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Epochs of Modern History 

EDITED BY 
EDWARD E. MORRIS, M.A., J. SURTEES PHILLPOTTS, B.C.L. 

AND 

C. COLBECK, M.A. 



THE EARLY HANOVERIANS 



EDWARD E. MORRIS 



8? 




PRINTED BY 

SPOTTIS'.VOODE AND CO., NEW-STREZT SQUARE 

LONDON 




WESTERN EUROPE 

UTRECHT 

(1713) 



Epochs of Modem History 



THE 



EARLY HANOVERIANS 



BY 



EDWARD E. MORRIS 



PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE 



WITH MAPS AND PLANS 



LONDON 
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 

1 886 

All rights reserved 



DA+n 



® 



PREFACE. 



This book did not form one of the Epochs of History 
as I originally designed the series. Many of the 
subjects treated in it were intended to find a place 
in other volumes. But in the course of writing such 
other volumes room was not spared for them, and 
those who managed the series after my departure from 
England thought that this volume was needed to 
supply a gap. It is a continuation of my Epoch 
called ' The Age of Anne.' 

In compiling this little book I have done my best 
to remember the cardinal principles of the series, to 
make the division of history horizontal rather than 
vertical, to omit superfluous names, and to make the 
treatment interesting. Though the name of the 
Epoch is taken from English history, some of the 
subjects — the Turkish Wars, the Polish Succession 
War, Anson's Voyage — are not usually treated in our 
school histories ; and of many minor matters the same 
can, I think, be said. Biography has always a charm 
for the young, and I have tried to make use of its 



vi Preface. 

attraction in lives of Leibnitz, Newton, Walpole, 
Queen Caroline, Maria Theresa, Atterbury, Ogle 
thorpe, Berkeley, and the chief literary men of the 
time in France as well as in England. My account 
of the romantic attempt known as the Forty-five has 
been made very full. 

Melbourne University: 
July I, 1885. 



CHRONOLOGICAL 

TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



BOOK I. 

THE LONG PEACE. 

CHAPTER I. 

EUROPE AFTER UTRECHT. 

1713. Peace of Utrecht. A general peace 
Important as closing a period of wars 
Survey of Europe — 
France 
Spain 
Italy . 

The Netherlands. Austrian. 
Holland 
Germany — much divided 

The Emperor. Austria 

Saxony . 

Prussia 

The electors 
Poland 

Russia and Sweden 
The Turks 



PAGE 

I 



9 

9 

10 



CHAPTER II. 

GEORGE THE FIRST. 

1 714. Aug. i, Death of Queen Anne ... . 

George, the new king, not in haste to come to 
England .... 



vi-ii Contents. 

PAGE 

His father, Ernest Augustus, duke of Hanover, 

first elector of Brunswick- Liineburg . . n 

His mother, the Electress Sophia . .12 

Her mother, Elizabeth of Bohemia, daughter of 

James I. . . . . 12 

Her father, Frederick, Elector Palatine (Winter) 

King of Bohemia . . . .12 

1714. June 8. Death of Electress Sophia . . 13 

The family — House of Brunswick or of Han- 
over . . . . . -14 
Its origin . . . . 14 

Description of the court of Hanover . . 15 

King George I. once a suitor for hand of Queen 

Anne . . . . . . 17 

Table of the family . . . .18 



CHAPTER III. 

THE ELECTORATE. 

The Electorate compared with England — 

In area as one to nine . . 19 

In population as one to twelve . . . 19 

In army nearly equal . . . .21 

In revenue as one to twenty . . . 21 

Extreme unpopularity of union with Hanover 22 

Proposed separation . . 24 

Later history of Hanover . . -24 

The two greatest men, Newton and Leibnitz . 25 

Life of Leibnitz .... 25 



CHAPTER IV. 

FIRST MEASURES. 

Arrival of George I. at Greenwich . . . 26 

Gracious to Whigs, rude to Tories . . 26 

Bolingbroke's removal from office . . . 26 

Cabinet entirely Whig . . . 27 



Contents. ix 

PAGE 

King ignorant of English . 27 

A constitutional king : interfering only in foreign 

affairs . . . 28 

Bremen and Verden acquired for Hanover . 28 
Parliament votes liberal civil list and arrears of 

pay for Hanoverian troops . . .29 

General election : a large Whig majority . . 30 
Revenge on Tory ministers . . .30 

Oxford, Bolingbroke, and Ormond to be im- 
peached . . . . 31 
The two latter escape. Two years later Oxford's 

impeachment dropped . . 31 

Bolingbroke becomes Secretary of State to the 

Pretender . . . . . - 32 



CHAPTER V. 

THE FIFTEEN. 



Attempts tc restore the Stuarts. 
1715. That generally known as ' the Fifteen ' 

Bolingbroke urged Lewis XIV. to make war 

Lewis died .... 
John, Earl of Mar, leader of the Jacobites 
Sept. 6. The rising in Scotland. Standard raised 
Edinburgh Castle. ' Powdering the hair' . 
No serious rising in England. Arrests of Jaco 

bites ..... 
Ormond lands in Devonshire, returns to France 
Earl of Derwentwater and Mr. Forster head a 
rising in the north 
Nov. 17. Battle of Preston, easy victory for royal troops 
Nov. 17. Battle of Sheriffmuir, doubtful victory in Scot 
land ..... 
After the battle the Jacobite army melted . 
Arrival of James too late 
Punishment of the rebels . 
Roads made in the Highlands . 



32 

34 

34 
34 
35 



36 

36 

36 
37 



39 
39 
40 

4i 



Contents. 



CHAPTER VI. 

SEPTENNIAL ACT AND PEERAGE BILL. 



PAGE 



Septennial Act to alter the period that a Par- 
liament might continue from three years to 
seven . . . • . 42 

Peerage Bill, attempt to limit royal prerogative 
in creation of peers. Its effect. . . 43 

Passed by the Lords, rejected by the Com- 
mons . . . . 45 
Pamphlet war. Addison and Steele . . 45 
Addison as a minister . . 46 

CHAPTER VII. 

FRANCE AND SPAIN. 



17 1 5. Sept. i. Death of Lewis XIV. . 

Lewis XV. , only five years old 
Distressed condition of France 
Regency of Philip, Duke of Orleans 
Strongly in favour of a peace policy and friend 
ship with England . 

1717. Triple alliance — France, England, and Holland 

Object to maintain the Treaty of Utrecht 

1718. Quadruple alliance. Emperor Charles VI. join; 
Kingdom of Sardinia established . 
Philip of Spain married Elizabeth Farnese of 

Parma .... 

Cardinal Aiberoni .... 
Excellent minister for Spain . 
In Europe, a disturber of the public peace 
His various schemes . 
A little war ensued. Admiral Byng at Messina 
1718. Dec. 11. Death of Charles XII. . 

1719. Spanish attempt on behalf of Pretender — abof 

tive . . . . . 

The French took Fontarabia, the English Vigo 
Spain then yielded, and Aiberoni was dis- 
missed . . . . 53 



47 
47 
47 



49 

49 
49 
49 

49 
5° 
5o 
5i 

52 
5 2 
52 

53 
53 



Contents. xi 



CHAPTER VIII. 

LAW AND THE SOUTH SEA BUBBLE. 

PAGE 

1718. In France. Law's proposal to help the finance. 54 

Mississippi scheme . . 54 

1720. In England, the South Sea Bubble . 55 

Many minor Bubbles . . 56 

General crash. Walpole called to office . 56 

Comparison between French and English 

bubbles . . . . • • 57 

Low state of morality . . . • 57 
1720. Plague at Marseilles. Heroic conduct of the 

bishop . . . . 57 



CHAPTER IX. 

SIR ROBERT WALPOLE. 



1723. 



His parentage, education and 


earlier history 


• 58 


Character and policy — love of 


peace . . 


59 


Corruption 


. 


61 


Very strong as financier 




62 


Treatment of national debt 


. 


62 


Interest of the same 


, . 


64 


Sinking fund 


. 


64 


Free trade . 




64 


Wood's Pence . 


, , , 


65 


Triumph of Dean Swift 




65 



CHAPTER X. 

ATTERBURY AND BOLINGBROKE. 

Bishop Atterbury, able man, strong Jacobite . 66 
Proof found of his correspondence with Pre- 
tender , . . . -67 
Deprived of bishopric and sent into exile . 67 

Bolingbroke returned, ' two-thirds restored ' . 63 

His writings . . . . 69 



xii Contents. 



CHAPTER XL 

NEARLY A EUROPEAN WAR. 

PAGE 

Queen of Spain anxious to secure appanage for 
her son . . . . ■ . 70 

New minister of Spain — Ripperda . . 70 

Infanta sent back to Spain and another wife 
chosen for Lewis, daughter of Stanislaus 
Leczynski, former King of Poland . . 70 

The Ostend Company of the Emperor irritates 

English and Dutch . . . • 71 

Proposed that Don Carlos should marry Maria 
Theresa . . . . . . 71 

Fear of preponderating power of Spain and 
Austria leads to a general league (Treaty of 
Hanover) . . . . -71 

Admiral Hosier sent against Porto Bello, but 

war never broke out . . 72 

1727. Siege of Gibraltar . . . , 72 

Treaty of Seville . . . • • 73 



CHAPTER XII. 

DEATH OF GEORGE I. AND OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON. 

Wife of George I., Sophia Dorothea of Zell, 

shut up for thirty-two years . . -73 

Her summons to the king . 74 

1727. June 11. Death of George I. on the road to Hanover, 

near Osnabriick . . . -74 

Death of Sir Isaac Newton . . . 74 

Some account of his life . . -75 



CHAPTER XIII. 

GEORGE II. AND QUEEN CAROLINE. 

George II. succeeds, aged 44 . . . 76 

His appearance and character . .76 



Contents. xiii 

PAGE 

Proposed duel with Frederick William of 

Prussia . . . . . . 77 

His avarice . . . . -78 

He spoke English, but bad English . . 78 

Queen Caroline. Her character . . 79 
George II. founder of the University of Got- 

tingfen . . . . 8r 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE PORTEOUS RIOTS. 

1736. The cause. Captain Porteous firing on Edin- 
burgh mob . . . . 8r 
Found guilty of murder and reprieved . . 82 
Rioters seized him and hanged him . . 83 



CHAPTER XV. 
walpole's fall. 

His love of power . . . . . 84 

Opposition had four elements — Jacobites, 
Tories, friends of Prince of Wales, discon- 
tented WTiigs . . . .84 
X 73Z- Opposition first won in Excise Bill . . 84 
William Pitt. His appearance and eloquence . 85 
Frederick, Prince of Wales . 86 
1737. Death of Queen Caroline . . -87 
1742. Jan. Resignation of Walpole . . . . 87 
He became Earl of Orford . . -87 



xiv Contents. 



BOOK II. 

THE WARS. 

CHAPTER I. 

THE TURKS. 

Section I. — The First War, 



PACE 



Turks in Europe up to seventeenth century 

advancing . . . 83 

1633. Culminating point — siege of Vienna, when John 

Sobieski drove them off . .83 

In his army Prince Eugene was an officer . . 83 
Eugene's war, ending with . . 89 

1699. Jan. Peace of Carlowitz . . . 89 

Venice and the Turks . . . .89 

After Utrecht, war renewed against Turks . 90 
17 1 6. Aug. 5. Battle of Peterwaradin . . . .90 

1717. Siege of Belgrade. Complete victory of Eugene 91 

1718. Treaty of Passarowitz . . . .92 

Section II. — The Second War. 

1736. Death of Prince Eugene . . . . 93 
After Eugene, Seckendorf commander-in-chief. 93 
General failure in the campaign . . . 94 

1737. Then Francis, Duke of Lorraine, commander- 

in-chief . . . . -9+ 

Disgraceful loss of Belgrade . 94 

Peace of Belgrade . . . -95 



1739- 



CHAPTER II. 

POLISH SUCCESSION WAR. 



1733. The war broke out . . . • ■ 95 

Poland an Elective Monarchy . . -95 

Death of Augustus the Strong . . . 96 



Contents. 



xv 



1735. Oct. 

1733. Oct. 5. 

1766. 



Two candidates .... 

Stanislaus Leczynski, former king, supported 
by France .... 

Augustus, son of the late king, supported b 
Russia and Austria . 
Sides taken in the Avar 
Arrangements made at the end of it 
Incidents of the war 
Eugene's last campaign 
Peace of Vienna .... 
Death of Augustus, King of Poland . 
Death of Stanislaus, Duke of Lorraine 



PAGE 

96 
96 

97 
97 
98 

99 
99 
99 
99 
99 



CHAPTER III. 

JENKINS' EAR. 

War with Spain. Story of Jenkins' ear 

Question whether the story is true . 

Real cause of the war. Expansion of England 

in the New World . 
The Assiento .... 

1739. Oct. 19. War declared amid general joy . 

War became much larger, being merged 

Austrian Succession War 
Events of year .... 
Capture of Porto Bello 
Attack on Cartagena. Failure . 
Rest of Spanish war. — Privateering 



100 

TOO 

103 
101 

IOI 

102 
103 
103 

103 

104 

105 



CHAPTER IV. 

ANSON'S VOYAGE. 

Its object — to co-operate with Vernon 

His fleet scattered 

Capture of Spanish galleons 

At Tinian. At Macao 

Return home. Anson made a peer 



106 
107 
108 
109 
no 



xvi Contents. 



chapter v. 

AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION. 

PAGE 

1740. Oct. 20. Death of Emperor Charles VI. . . no 

The Pragmatic Sanction . . .111 

Maria Theresa. Her appearance and character 112 
Matches suggested for her — Frederick the Great 1 12 
Don Carlos . . . . . 71 

Electoral Prince of Bavaria . . .112 

Her marriage with Francis, Duke of Lorraine, 

afterwards Grand Duke of Tuscany . -113 
Various claimants for whole or part of Austrian 

dominions . . . . .113 

Frederick of Prussia — Silesia . 113 

Spain wanting appanage for Don Philip . 114 

Elector of Saxony . . . 114 

Charles Albert, Elector of Bavaria . .114 

Policy of France, shaped by Marshal Belleisle 

to keep Germany divided . . 116 

Alliance against Austria. Treaty of Nymphen- 

burg — France, Bavaria, Spain, Saxony, 

Russia .... 

Treaty of Hanover. George II. promises 

neutrality for one year . 
Invasion of Austrian dominions by a French 

army ..... 
Maria Theresa crowned at Presburg 

Making appeal to her Hungarian subjects 

rouses their enthusiasm 
Elector of Bavaria elected Emperor Charles VII 
Cause of Maria Theresa gains, that of Charles 

VII. loses ground . . . 121 

Retreat of French army from Prague . .121 

Maria Theresa crowned at Prague . . 122 

War in Italy ..... 122 



117 

117 

118 
119 

119 

120 



PAGE 
123 
123 
124 
124 
126 
127 
127 



Contents. xvii 



CHAPTER VI. 

BATTLE OF DETTINGEX. 

England and France only allies of combatants 
Earl Stair commanding the English 
French under Marshal Noailles 
Situation that led to the battle . 
1743. June 27. The battle itself .... 
Conduct of King George II. . 
Results of battle .... 

CHAPTER VII. 

DETTINGEN TO FONTENOY. 

Maria Theresa prospering, but obstinate in con- 
tinuing the war . . . .128 
Results of this — 

1. France becomes a principal . 

2. Frederick again joins enemies of Austria 
Second Silesian war 
Union of Frankfort 
Invasion of Saxony 
Peace of Dresden 

Lewis XV. His illness and popularity: the 

' Well-beloved "... 
Sea-fight near Toulon 

Death of Charles VII. ' the bold Bavarian ' 
Election of Francis, Maria Theresa's husband 



129 
129 
129 
129 
130 
iqo 



130 
130 

J 3 T 
mi 



CHAPTER VIII. 

CAMPAIGN OF FONTEXOV. 

Marshal Saxe. Life and character 
Campaign in Flanders 

Tournay .... 
Cumberland marches to relief of it 
Battle of Fontenoy . . . . 133 

Advance of English infantry . . . 135 



D 1 



M. //. 



XV111 



Contents. 



' Gentlemen, we never fire first ' 

How the advance of the column was met 

Account by an eye-witness . 

The Irish Brigade 



PAGE 

137 
137 
138 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE FORTY-FIVE, 

Walpole anxious for peace, lest war should lead 

to rebellion . . . . 139 

Charles Edward, the Young Pretender. His 

pedigree, character and education . . 139 

Contrast between Old and Young Pretenders . 142 
Account of ancestor of Young Pretender, John 

Sobieski . . . . 143 

Army collected under Marshal Saxe . . 143 

Transports scattered by a storm . . 144 

Without help from France, Charles Edward 

starts . . . . . . 144 

1745. July 25. Landing at Moidart .... 144 

Poor prospects. Interview with Lochiel . . 145 
Aug. T9. Raising of standard .... 145 

Prospects improve . . . . . 146 

Sir John Cope, instead of facing his enemy, 

marches off to Inverness . . . 146 

And Charles Edward marches into Edinburgh . 147 

Cope returns to Dunbar . . . 148 

Battle of Prestonpans . . . . 148 

Reasons of English defeat — 

. 1. They were badly led . . . 150 

2. Strangeness of Highlanders . . . 150 

Oct. 31. Scotland secured, Charles Edward starts for 

London ..... 151 

By the Carlisle route . . . 152 

Preparations in England — 

1. Wade's army in Northumberland . 154 

2. Cumberland's army at Lichfield . . 154 

3. King George and the Guards at Finchley . 154 
Dec. 6. Charles Edward begins retreat from Derby . 154 



Contents. xix 

PAGE 

Feelings in England. Relief. Curiosity . 155 

Skirmish at Clifton .... 156 

No French force came .... 156 

Command in Scotland given to General Hawley 157 

Battle of Falkirk . . . . . 157 

But after the battle the Highlanders began to 

separate ..... 158 
Further retreat northwards . . . 159 
Command given to Cumberland . . 159 
1746. April 16. Battle of Culloden . . . . 160 
After the battle rebellion put down with severity 163 
And measures taken to prevent future rebellion 164 
Charles Edward after the battle. His adven- 
tures and escapes : flight to France . 166 
1748. Expulsion from France . . . 167 
His later history and that of his brother . 168 

CHAPTER X. 

REMAINDER OF CONTINENTAL WAR. 

Marshal Saxe prepares to invade Holland. 

He takes Brussels, Antwerp, Namur . 

Battle of Roucoux. Victory of Saxe 

Invasion of Holland 

Revival by Dutch of Stadtholdership 

Battle of Lauffeld. Victory of Saxe over Cum 

berland .... 

Siege of Bergen op Zoom and Maestricht . 
Campaign in Netherlands and Italy 
Siege of Genoa .... 

CHAPTER XI. 

PEACE OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. 

State of things that led to the peace . . 174 

Dutch saw their cities taken . . . 174 

English were gaining nothing at heavy cost . 174 

French also anxious for peace . . . 174 

Spain lukewarm in the war „ . 175 



169 
170 
171 
171 
171 

171 
172 
*73 

1/3 



xx Contents. 



PAGE 



Congress at Aix-la-Chapelle . . . 175 

Terms of the peace. Status quo ante helium . 175 
Austria, discontented and the questions not 

really settled . . . . . 176 
State of England, according to Lord Chester- 
field, very bad . . . . 177 
She soon recovered from the exhaustion . . 178 
Emigration of soldiers to Nova Scotia . . 178 
Later history of Marshal Saxe . . . 178 



BOOK III. 

RELIGION AND LETTERS. 

CHAPTER I. 

WESLEY AND BUTLER. 

Low state of religion in England . . 180 

Authorities quoted. Archbishop of Canter- 
bury . . . . . . 180 

Preface to Butler's ' Analogy ' . . 181 

1703-91. John Wesley . . . 181 
1708-88. Charles Wesley . . . . .183 

1714-70. George Wnitefield . . . . 183 
692-1752. Joseph Butler. Bishop of Bristol, afterwards 

Durham ..... 185 

The 'Analogy' . . . 187 

CHAPTER II. 

BERKELEY AND OGLETHORPE. 

( Two eminent philanthropists. ) 

1684-1753. Bishop Berkeley. Bishop of Cloyne . . 187 

His scheme for a Christian University in Ber- 
muda . . . . . . 188 



Contents. xxi 

PAGE 

1689-1785. James Oglethorpe. His history . . 191 

The prisons . . . . . 192 

The colony of Georgia . . . 192 

His later life . . . . . 194 

CHAPTER III. 

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 

Section I. — The Poets, 

State of letters. Well rewarded . . 194 

1700-48. James Thomson. ' The Seasons * . . 196 

1684-1765. Dr. Young. ' Night Thoughts ' . . 198 

1716-71. Thomas Gray . . . . 198 

Section II. — The Novelists. 

A Time of Prose .... 199 

Beginning of novels . . 199 

1689-1761. Samuel Richardson .... 199 

1707-54. Henry Fielding . . . . 200 

1721-77. Tobias Smollett . . . .. . 202 

1713-68. Laurence Sterne . . . . . 204 

Section III. — Dr. Johnson and his Circle. 

1709-84. Dr. Johnson . . . . .204 

The Club . . . . . 207 

1728-74. Oliver Goldsmith .... 208 

1729-97. Edmund Burke . . . . 208 

1716-79. David Garrick ..... 208 

1723-92. Sir Joshua Reynolds . . . . 208 

1737-94. Edward Gibbon .... 208 



CHAPTER IV. 

FRENCH LITERATURE. 

1694-1778. Voltaire, real name Francois Arouet . . 209 

Early life ..... 209 

Visit to England . . . . . 210 

'Henriade' ..... 211 



XX11 



Contents. 



rAGE 

His plays . . . . . 212 

Histories . . . .. .213 

Tales . . . . . 213 

Earthquake at Lisbon . . .214 

Intercourse with Frederick the Great . . 215 
His influence ..... 216 

Johnson's opinion of Voltaire and Rousseau. 217 

1712-78. Jean Jacques Rousseau . . . 217 

His early life . . . . 217 

His prize essay . . ' . . 218 

Three great books — 

1. ' New Helo'ise ' . . . 218 

2. ' Social Contract ' .... 219 

3. ' Emile on Education ' ... 220 
Philosophical and religious views . .221 
Later life. ' Confessions . . . . 221 
English influence on French thinkers . . 222 

1689-1755. Montesquieu . . . . 222 

' Les Lettres Persanes' . . . 222 

' L' Esprit des Lois ' . . ... 223 



Index 



225 



XX111 



MAPS. 



Western Europe after Peace of Utrecht . To face Title 

PAGE 

The Electorate . 



Turkish Wars and Treaties 

Anson's Voyage 

Upper Danube . 

Dettingen . 

Netherlands, 1745-8 . 

Fontenoy 

The Forty-five 



• 


-L V / lit C iiU 


• 


93 




108 


. 


118' 


• 


125 


. 


129 


• 


134- 


Between pages 


146 and 147 



TABLES. 



Descent of the Georges 
House of Austria 
The later Stuarts . 



18 

140 



THE EARLY HANOVERIANS, 



BOOK I. 

THE LONG PEACE. 



CHAPTER I. 

EUROPE AFTER UTRECHT. 

In the year 1713 the quaint Dutch city of Utrecht was 
.the scene of an important ceremony. It took place in a 
house which has been since pulled down to „ 

x Jreace ot 

make room for a barrack, then the residence Utrecht, 
of the Bishop of Bristol, probably the last I?I3 ' 
English bishop ever employed upon such an errand. 
Yet the ceremony was one in which a bishop might well 
take an interest, for it was the ceremony of signing a 
treaty of peace, which put an end to a long, wearisome, 
and bloody war. 

A great many treaties claim notice in history, each 
professing to be a general pacification of Europe ; but 
many seem really to be little more than truces. A „ euera i 
Very few years elapse from the date of their peace, 
signature, and the nations are found at Avar again. A 
treaty of peace settles boundaries until another war be 
ended with another peace. The attention, however, of 
the student must be claimed for the more important 

M. H. B 



2 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 171 3 

treaties, and such importance must mainly be decided 
by the permanence of the arrangements which they make. 
The peace of Utrecht closes a period of fighting 
which may nearly be described as coinciding with the 
TT , t • reign of Lewis XIV., King of France. Little 

Utrecht mi- t> . 

portant. alteration was made in the boundaries of 
Western Europe from the signing of the peace of Utrecht 
to the time when the French Revolution, filling the people 
of France with a new spirit, began to excite the neigh- 
bouring nations. In this period of eighty years there 
was only one great European war at all to be compared in 
scale or intensity with the wars of the preceding century — 
that, namely, which is called the Seven Years' War. Dur- 
ing the first half of the period, the part which forms the 
subject of this little volume, of the two great rivals, France 
and England, neither was disposed to fight. France 
was exhausted by her efforts, crippled by debt, and badly 
governed ; England was under the rule of an enlightened 
minister who saw that peace was the best gift he could 
give his country — not exhausted, indeed, but somewhat 
dissatisfied with fighting other people's battles. During 
the second half of the period England was consolidating 
her dominion in India, and then became engaged in an 
unfortunate struggle with her colonies in America. 
France, which had suffered great losses both in India 
and in America, latterly helped the colonies of England 
to free themselves and to become the United States. 
Neither the Seven Years' War nor the smaller wars of 
these eighty years made much difference in the map of 
Europe. 

The date of the treaty of Utrecht may then be taken 
Surve of as a stable point for a survey of the political 
Europe. geography of Europe in the eighteenth century. 

Without doubt France was the most important coun- 
try. It required coalitions of other nations with long 



A.D. 1 7 13 Europe after Utrecht. 3 

and united efforts to check her career of conquest ; 
and though she was now exhausted by the struggle, and 
was no longer what she had been before Marl- 
borough's victories, yet she could still hold 
her own against any single nation. The treaty of Utrecht 
came most opportunely for France. The Grand Alliance 
had beaten her, and was preparing to follow up its series 
of victories by actual invasion of her territory. Had the 
movements of the allied armies been governed by a 
single mind, terms of peace might have been dictated to 
her under the walls of Paris ; but diversity of counsel is 
the weakness of an alliance, and France profited by the 
vacillation and discord amongst her enemies. On the 
south, west, and north-west there are distinct natural 
boundaries for France. Her eastern and north-eastern 
boundary line has frequently changed according as in 
her numerous wars this warrior nation has succeeded or 
failed. It is not now, and was not at the time of the 
treaty of Utrecht, marked throughout by natural features : 
but the following differences must be noted between the 
frontier of that time and the frontier marked in maps of 
our day. Alsace, the province between the Vosges 
Mountains and the Rhine, was then under French rule, 
though since the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1 it has 
belonged again to Germany ; and some parts of the duchy 
of Lorraine are now French, though then the whole 
duchy was independent, except that ' the three bishop- 
rics,' Metz, Toul, and Verdun, in the duchy, yet not of it, 
formed outposts of France. Without Lorraine, Alsace 
seems to have no right to belong to France ; it juts into 
Germany like a long, narrow peninsula, with the nar- 
rowest isthmus of junction near B effort. Before Utrecht 
the French had held a few towns across the Rhine, but 
at the peace these were ceded. The Rhine was the 
French boundary from the town of Basle to the little 



4 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1713 

town of Rastadt, where the treaty was signed between 
France and the Emperor in the year after Utrecht. 
Avignon was the territory of the Pope. Dotted about 
France there were still duchies with rights more or less 
independent of the French Crown. Although the greater 
French kings and their ministers had uniformly pursued 
a policy of consolidation, there remained in France a 
great deal of political independence arising out of 
feudalism and a great variety of provincial laws and 
customs with the force of law. These distinctions were 
not swept away until the Revolution. 

In reckoning the power of France account must be 
taken of Spain, for on the throne of Spain there sat 
a French prince, and although the strongest 
pledges had been given that the crowns of 
the two countries should never be united, similar pledges 
had been disregarded, and princes of the same house 
might be expected to co-operate for its common advan- 
tage. But Spain had lost much of her power ; she had 
been shorn of almost all her outlying possessions. The 
Low Countries had fallen to Austria, together with Milan, 
Naples, and Sardinia ; Sicily to the Duke of Savoy. Later, 
an exchange was made between Sardinia and Sicily : the 
Duke of Savoy became King of Sardinia, whilst the king- 
dom of the Two Sicilies, i.e. Sicily and Naples, was made 
an appanage for a younger son of the House of Austria. 
The only European possession outside the peninsula re- 
maining to Spain was the Balearic Islands; and even of 
these England held Minorca. On the mainland also 
England kept tight hold of Gibraltar, which she had won 
during the recent war. It must be remembered, however, 
that of late years the various provinces which Spain held 
in different parts of Europe had not proved a source of 
strength to her, but of weakness ; some have maintained 
that she was in a stronger position without them. 



a.d. 17 13 Europe after Utrecht. 5 

The neighbouring country Portugal, moreover, may 
be described as a perpetual blister in the side of Spain — 
always inclined to be in favour of England because of 
Spain's natural alliance with France. 

Spain's position may be summed up in the remark 
that her ancient renown gave her still an importance in 
Europe which her present power hardly justified. 

In Italy, Austria had succeeded to the position formerly 
held by Spain — the pre-eminence amongst the secular 
princes. The States of the Church occupied 
all the central part of the peninsula from the 
borders of the duchy of Naples as far as the mouth of 
the Po. Besides Austria, the Pope, and Savoy, there were 
four duchies — Tuscany, Parma, Piacenza, Modena — and 
three republics, sole representatives of the republican 
spirit which had distinguished the Italian cities in earlier 
history, Lucca, Genoa, Venice, not to mention the tiny 
commonwealth of San Marino. Tuscany, which had risen 
out of the mediaeval republic of Florence, took the lead 
among the duchies, and was called a grand duchy. 
Venice was far the strongest of the cities, having recently 
recovered from the Turks her dominion in the Morea 
(though she was soon again to lose it), and still holding 
some of the Ionian Isles and part of the mainland across 
the Adriatic. Italy, with ten governments, was ' a house 
divided against itself,' and helped to make Austria strong 
without being strong herself. 

The most important item in the treaty of Utrecht 
was the transfer from Spain to Austria of the govern- 
ment of the Low Countries, or Netherlands, The Nether . 
henceforth known as the Austrian Netherlands, lands. 
The Dutch certainly engaged in the War of the Spanish 
Succession in order that they might themselves be secure 
against the attacks of France. Their country had within 
memory of the living suffered terribly from unjustifiable 



6 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 17 13 

invasions of the French. The English also in that war 
were swayed by considerations for the Dutch, as well 
as by other motives. All Marlborough's campaigns, with 
the single exception of that of Blenheim, were directed 
to the clearing of the French out of the Low Countries 
prior to making an attack upon France itself. In all 
probability, if the cession of the Low Countries could have 
been made by Spain at once, the war would have been 
altogether avoided. The Dutch regarded it as essential 
to their safety that between their country and France there 
should be a tract of land belonging to a government not 
under the dominion of France. To obtain this barrier 
they had lavishly expended treasure and blood, and 
their finances were now heavily crippled by debt. Having 
obtained it they practically retired from the field of 
European politics, and took little part in future European 
wars. 

Frederick the Great said that from the accession of 

William III. Flolland was following the policy of England 

— ' nothing more than a little boat sailing in 

Holland. the wake of a powerful ship} it might fairly 

be answered that the captain was seated in the little boat 
giving his commands how the ship should steer ; for 
until the Dutch cut themselves adrift after the treaty of 
Utrecht England may be said to have followed a Dutch 
quite as much as Holland an English policy. It is truer 
still to say that both pursued a European policy, and no 
praise can be too strong for the heroic stand made by 
this little country in the cause of freedom. 

Outside the immediate circle of European politics 
Holland had an importance of her own in the possession 
of many colonies. Her colonial empire was not even 
then so large as that of England, but it was of consider- 
able extent. Ceylon then belonged to Holland. 

Germany was a most divided country. It contained 



a.d. 1 7 is Europe after Utrecht. 7 

the enormous number of between five and six hundred 
independent or almost independent states, for they 
owed a nominal allegiance to the Emperor. 
This large number of course included not 
only electorates and duchies, but also prince-bishoprics 
and free cities. It is only in our own day that unity 
has come to Germany, and it has not come in any way 
through the action of Austria. The various German 
princes, keeping up each a little court, as far as possible 
in imitation of the French Court at Versailles, ground 
down their unfortunate subjects with heavy taxation. If 
now and then there was a kindly and good prince, he 
was the exception rather than the rule. 

The Emperor was still called Emperor of the Holy 
Roman Empire. There was still a nominal election to 
the office, but practically the Emperor elected was always 
the head of the family of Hapsburg, the House of Austria. 
Austiice est Imfterare Orbi Universo was still the proud 
boast of this proud family (' Austria should rule the 
world '), but even those who made the boast must have 
felt how false it was. Once the head of this House was 
not Emperor only, but King of Spain, ruler of the Nether- 
lands and of large portions of Italy. Then came a 
separation between the two branches of the House. The 
Netherlands had gone with Spain, but the Spanish 
Hapsburgs had ended, and now the treaty of Utrecht 
gave the Netherlands back to. Austria. The hereditary 
dominions of the House of Austria formed the nucleus of 
her power, and very various these dominions were. It 
was curious that the chief power in Germany should be 
in the hands of a sovereign the chief part of whose own 
dominions v/as not really German at all. The extent of 
the Austrian dominions was nearly the same as that of 
the Austrian empire to-day, in which the German element 
Is proportionately small. In the course of this history it 



8 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1713 

will be seen how Hungary, a non-German possession, 

proved itself of great importance to the House of Austria, 

Of the other German States Saxony was very much 

divided. The princely family had first split into two 

lines, one of which established primogeniture-, 

the other did not. The representative of the 

first line was called the Elector of Saxony. His name 

was Augustus the Strong, a name earned by physical, not 

moral qualities, and he was at this time also the elected 

King of Poland. The Elector of Saxony later became a 

king-. The other line divided and subdivided itself till it 

had become a heap of small separate states, all those, 

namely, that begin with the prefix Saxe, such as Saxe- 

Weimar, Saxe-Coburg. 

Another Elector, the Elector of Brunswick, was just 
about to become King of England, and the Elector of 
Brandenburg was King of Prussia, having re- 
ceived the title from the Emperor in order that 
the Prussian troops might be secured to the side of the 
Emperor and the Grand Alliance in the Spanish Suc- 
cession War. 

It cannot be too often impressed upon learners that 
by the German title Elector (Kurfiirst) is meant one 
who has a right to vote at the election of 
the Emperor of the so-called Holy Roman 
Empire. Until the middle of the seventeenth century 
there were seven Electors, three archbishops, and four 
secular princes. The prelates were those of Mainz or 
Mayence, Treves, and Cologne ; the secular princes were 
the Margrave of Brandenburg, the Elector of Saxony, 
the King of Bohemia, and the Elector Palatine. Any 
title less than King was gladly merged in the proud title 
of Elector. To these seven the Duke of Bavaria was 
added at the peace of Westphalia. For years he had 
held the dominions, and therefore claimed the vote of the 



a. d. 1 7 13 E „r Utrecht. 9 

Elector Palatine, ^.^tly the Duke of Brunswick-Liine- 
burg was made the ninth Elector, because he joined the 
Grand Alliance. 

Poland was in a very unsatisfactory condition, always 
in danger of setting her neighbours' houses on fire. The 
causes were the elective monarchy and the 
turbulence of the nobility. The danger of an 
elective monarchy is that the faction which is defeated at 
the election may resent its defeat, and take up arms on 
behalf of its candidate. Such armed intervention occurred 
more than once in Poland. The elections were always 
more or less riotous, neighbouring nations often trying 
to profit by the confusion. Some forty years before the 
treaty of Utrecht, Poland had, in the person of John 
Sobieski, a hero for a king — the hero who drove back 
the Turks from Vienna. But Poland needed a states- 
man rather than a hero. The Elector of Saxony, Augustus 
the Strong, was elected to succeed Sobieski, and reigned 
until he was defeated by Charles XII. of Sweden, who 
told the Poles to elect another king ; whereupon they 
elected one of their own nobles, whose name was Stanis- 
laus Leczynski. He, however, was only able to reign 
as long as Charles XII. was able to maintain him, 
On the fall of Charles, Leczynski retired to France, of 
which country his daughter afterwards became Queen 
Consort. These characters reappear in the course of 
this history. 

Behind Western Europe lay a ring of states less 
advanced in civilisation. In the north-east there was 
still continuing rivalry, if not actual contest, -r, ■ , 

J 3 ' .Russia and 

between those two remarkable men Charles Sweden. 
XII. of Sweden and Peter the Great of Russia. The 
latter had the more persevering nature, the greater desire 
for material progress, as well as the greater resources. 
Russia was becoming in every way a greater nation than 



io The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 17 14 

Sweden ; arid from this time forward, in great European 
wars, the part that Russia would play had always care- 
fully to be considered. Sweden, after the time of Charles 
XII., practically retired from interference in the affairs 
of Europe, and pursued henceforth the same policy as 
Holland, and for the same reason. 

Moreover a new power, the Turks, had by this time 
secured a place in Europe, much to the disgust 
of many, who thought that no efforts would 
have been too great to keep them out of Christendom. 



CHAPTER II. 

GEORGE I. 



On the death of Queen Anne, on an eventful Sunday 

morning, August 1, 17 14, both the Privy Council and 

the House of Commons met. Messengers 

The new 

KingofEng- were at once sent to convey the news to 
land. Hanover ; fast travelling brought them there 

in less than five days. But George, who was heir to the 
crown, did not hasten to take up the great inheritance 
that had fallen to him. He was not young, and he was 
never an impulsive man. The weight of his fifty-four 
years and the natural slowness of his German character 
co-operated perhaps with a certain measure of policy 
that dictated looking before leaping. The new King 
took time to consider how he should act with respect to 
English ministers and English parties before plunging 
into their midst. Meanwhile in his name all steps were 
being taken to ensure a quiet accession, and the hopes 
and fears which the anticipation of the Queen's death 
had excited were alike calmed. A Jacobite bishop 
offered in his lawn sleeves to proclaim King James III, 



a. d. 1 7 14 George I. 11 



at Charing Cross, and when his friends refused to act 
with him declared that the finest possible opportunity 
had been lost for want of spirit. 

George I., whom circumstances and the Act of 
Settlement had thus called to be King of Great Britain 
and Ireland, had been a sovereign prince for 
sixteen years, during which time he had been 
Elector of Brunswick-Luneburg. He was the second 
who ever bore that title. By right of his father he was 
Elector ; it was by right of his mother that he now 
became ruler of the United Kingdom. The father was 
Ernest Augustus, Sovereign Bishop of Osnaburg, who, 
by the death of his elder brothers, had become Duke of 
Hanover, and then Duke of Brunswick and Liineburg. 
In 1692 he was raised by the Emperor to the dignity of 
Elector. The other Electors were indignant at the Em- 
peror's claim in such arbitrary manner to add to their 
number, and for nearly sixteen years, during which 
period one election to the empire had taken place, the 
Electors refused any recognition of the new voice. Then 
they yielded. Whether the Emperor acted strictly 
legally is disputed amongst those who are learned in 
that intricate subject the law of the Holy Roman Empire, 
but that he acted in accordance with sound motives of 
policy admits of no dispute. Lewis XIV. was dangerous 
to Europe, and the grand alliance against him wanted 
all the help that could be obtained. It was feared that 
Hanover was wavering and that her troops might be on 
the side of France. The promotion of the Duke to be 
Elector was the price paid to keep Hanover upon the 
right side. Doubtless King William III., the very soul 
of the earlier Grand Alliance, approved of the price paid, 
though at that time so many stood nearer in the English 
succession than the princes of the House of Hanover that 
there seemed no probability that the electorate would 



12 The Early Hanoverians. a. d. 17 14 

prove for that family only a step to the higher dignity — 
the throne of England. 

The mother of George I. was Sophia, usually known 
as the Electress Sophia. The title was merely one of 
honour, and only meant wife of an Elector. 
This princess was twenty-seven when she mar- 
ried Ernest Augustus,afterwards first Elector of Brunswick- 
Luneburg, and she was as famous for her beauty and for 
her wit as he was for his courtly manner. The marriage 
took place a couple of years before the restoration of the 
Stuarts to England, and, amid the general joy with which 
that event was hailed in England, no notice was there 
taken of the birth of a little prince, great-grandson of 
one English king, son of the first cousin of the restored 
monarch. The Electress Sophia was the daughter of 
Elizabeth, daughter of King James I., and Frederick, the 
Elector Palatine. 

The Princess Elizabeth was one of the most beautiful 
of women. She inspired enthusiasm in the breasts of 
Ei\ beth of English poets and of German princes. Wit- 
Bohemia, ness the beautiful and well-known verses by 
Sir Henry Wotton ' to Elizabeth of Bohemia ' ; witness 
the enthusiasm with which, wearing her glove, Christian 
of Brunswick, in the spirit of a crusading knight, 
engaged in that most unchivalrous of wars called, from 
its weary length, the Thirty Years' War, in vvhich 
he won for himself the title ' God's friend and parsons' 
foe.' 

Her husband Frederick, the Elector Palatine, was 
elected by the Protestants of Bohemia to be their king. 
The Kin<r of T ^ e House of Austria claimed that the right 
Bohemia. of election was merely nominal, and that the 
Bohemians were bound, as of course, to elect the head of 
that House. This they probably would have done had 
he not been a prominent Roman Catholic prince, sus- 



a.d. 1714 Geoj'ge I. 13 

pected of intending a policy of persecution in his heredi- 
tary dominions and in Bohemia if he gained it, as well as 
in his position of Emperor, to which he was now elected. 
Frederick on election went to Prague, but his reign in 
Bohemia was very short. He is known in history as the 
Winter King, because one winter was the duration of his 
reign. In the battle of the White Mountain, outside his 
capital, Prague, the Austrians defeated him. They drove 
him not only from the kingdom of Bohemia, but from his 
electorate also, and gave the Palatinate to a staunch 
adherent of the Emperor's cause, the Duke of Bavaria. 
This may be described as the first act in that terrible re- 
ligious war — the Thirty Years' War. The animosity felt 
throughout Germany between the Roman Catholics and 
the Protestants had prepared the train for an explosion : 
this dispute in Bohemia fired it. Whilst the war con- 
tinued Frederick, with his beautiful queen Elizabeth, 
remained landless and homeless ; but at the peace of 
Westphalia, which closed it, he was not forgotten. In 
the spirit of conciliation and compromise that then pre- 
vailed, it was felt that the electorate could not be taken 
from Bavaria. It was decided, therefore, that part of the 
Palatinate should be restored to Frederick and an eighth 
electorate created. Forty-four years later a ninth elec- 
torate was established in favour of his son-in-law, the 
Duke of Hanover. 

During almost the whole of Queen Anne's reign the 
Electress Sophia was her legal heir. Naturally she took 
the keenest interest in English politics, and is 
said to have declared that she would die happy Electress 
if she could know that ' Queen of England : s °P hia - 
would be engraven on her coffin. Two months, however, 
before the English throne became vacant the Princess 
Sophia was taking exercise in the trim gardens of Herren- 
hausen. Agitated, it is said, by a letter which she had 



14 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 17 14 

just received from Queen Anne, resenting the proposal 
that Prince George, the electoral prince, should go to 
England, she was walking too quickly, and fell down 
dead of heart disease. 

The new royal house in England is sometimes called 
the House of Hanover, sometimes the House of Bruns- 
House of wick. It will be found that the latter name is 
Brunswick. more generally used in histories written during 
the last century, the former in books written in the pre- 
sent day. If the names were equally applicable, the 
modern use is the more convenient, because there is 
another, and in some respects well known, branch of the 
House of Brunswick ; but no other has a right to the name 
of Hanover. It is, however, quite certain that, whatever 
the English use may be, Hanover is properly the name 
of a town and of a duchy, but that the electorate was 
Brunswick-Liineburg. During the last few weeks of 
Queen Anne's reign the heir was prayed for in the 
Liturgy of the Church of England as 'the Duke ot 
Brunswick,' a petition substituted for that for the ' Prin- 
cess Sophia.' 

The House of Brunswick was of noble origin, tracing 
itself back to a certain Guelph d'Este, nicknamed ' the 
Robust,' son of an Italian nobleman, who had 
been seeking his fortunes in Germany. Guelph 
married Judith, widow of the English King, Harold, who 
fell on the hill of Senlac, pierced in the eye, when the 
English were routed in the battle of Hastings. One of 
Guelph's descendants, later, married Maud, the daughter 
of King Henry II., probably the most powerful king in 
Europe of his day, at whose persuasion the Emperor 
conferred on the Guelphs the duchy of Brunswick. The 
son of this marriage became, for a short period, Emperor 
at a time when the Guelphs gained the upper hand in 
Germany ; and fourteenth in descent from this same mar- 



a. d. 1 7 14 George I . 15 

riage is Ernest Augustus, first Elector of Brunswick- 
Liineburg. More than once the territories of the House of 
Brunswick were divided, and sometimes into several frag- 
ments, but by failure of heirs the parts were reunited. 
The story is told that the grandfather of Ernest Augustus, 
by name Duke William the Pious, had seven sons, who, 
seeing that if the territories were subdivided their influence 
would vanish, agreed that one only of them should marry, 
and that the dice selected his son George. He, in turn, 
had four sons, who divided their territories, though they 
made a compact somewhat similar to that of the pre- 
vious generation. The whole was joined together once 
more under the youngest brother, Ernest Augustus. 

Ernest Augustus, the first Elector, was nineteen at 
the date when the peace of Westphalia put an end to 
the Thirty Years' War, and fifty-nine when Description 
William of Orange landed at Torbay. A co^rtof 
Scotch gentleman, much given to travelling, Hanover. 
who was English consul at Amsterdam, and who pub- 
lished in that city in the year of the English Revolution 
(1688) an account of his travels, gives us some insight 
into the Court of Hanover. ' Here,' he says, ' I had the 
honour to kiss the hands of the Princess Royal, Sophia, 
youngest sister to the late Prince Rupert. Her Highness 
has the character of the Merry Debonaire, Princess of 
Germany, a lady of extraordinary virtue and accomplish- 
ments : she is mistress of the Italian, French, High and 
Low Dutch, and English languages, which she speaks to 
perfection. Her husband has the title of the Gentleman 
of Germany, a graceful and comely prince, both on 
foot and on horseback, civil to strangers beyond compare, 
infinitely kind and beneficent to people in distress, and 
known in the world for a valiant and experienced 
soldier. I had the honour to see his troops, which, 
without controversy, are as good men, and commanded 



v6 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 17 14 

by as expert officers, as any are in Europe. . . . God 
hath blest the prince with a numerous offspring, having 
six sons — all gallant princes— of whom the two eldest 
signalised themselves so bravely at the raising of the 
siege of Vienna that as an undoubted proof of their 
valour they brought three Turks home to this court 
prisoners. . . . He is a gracious prince to his people, 
and keeps a very splendid court, having in his stables, 
for the use of himself and children, fifty-two sets of 
coach-horses. He himself is Lutheran, but as his sub- 
jects are Christians of different persuasions — nay, and 
some of them are Jews too — so both in his court and army 
he entertains gentlemen of various opinions and countries, 
as Italian abbots and gentlemen that serve him, and 
many Calvinist French officers ; neither is he so bigoted 
in his religion but that he and his children go many 
times to church with the Princess, who is a Calvinist, and 
join with her in her devotion. His country is good, having 
gold and silver mines in it, and his subjects live well 
under him.' 

Mr. Consul Ker, when he penned these remarks, did 
not think that some twenty-six years later he would himself 
be in Hanover, congratulating the Duke of that place, 
then an Elector, on his accession to the crown of the 
United Kingdom. The portrait of Ernest Augustus can 
be seen in contemporary prints, looking majestic and dig- 
nified, with a very formidable wig and anything but a mild 
expression of countenance. The Elector died ten years 
after Mr. Ker published this account, and was succeeded 
in 1698 by his son, George Lewis, afterwards George I. 
of England. There was no division of territories between 
the six ' gallant princes,' because Ernest Augustus, seeing 
that his newly-won electoral dignity must be suitably 
maintained, had established the right of primogeniture. 
In the language of an old writer, a councillor of Hanover, 



a.d. 1714 ) George I. 17 

he 'gave a remarkable proof of his superior judgment, 
as well as of his concern for the welfare of his family, 
by effectually putting a stop to the pernicious custom 
that had hitherto prevailed in his house of dividing and 
cantling out the dominions belonging to it.' 

At the death of Queen Anne, King George was fifty-four 
years of age, and had been Elector sixteen years. His 
son, afterwards King George II., was nearly 
thirty-one. His grandson Frederick, who died and Queen* 
as Prince of Wales, the father of George III., Anne - 
and great-grandfather of Queen Victoria, was then within 
ten days of seven. The new King was five years older 
than the Queen who had just died. It is a fact not 
generally known that he had once been a suitor for her 
hand. In the winter of 1680 he paid a visit to England, 
an account of which he wrote to his mother in Germany. 
* I saw the Princess of York (the Lady Anne), and I 
saluted her by kissing her, with the consent of the King ' 
(Charles II.) Notwithstanding this salute, he was not 
very cordially received by his English cousins, nor did 
the Lady Anne, not yet sixteen, look with favour on his 
suit. During his stay he received an honorary doctor's 
degree from the University of Cambridge, but he was 
soon recalled by a letter from his father, who for 
family reasons wished him to marry a cousin nearer 
home. Two and a half years after his departure the 
Lady Anne married Prince George of Denmark, and was 
very fond of her dull husband, who died some six years 
before her. 



M. H. 



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A.D. 1714 19 



CHAPTER III. 

THE ELECTORATE. 

It may be as well to give here some account of the size 
and importance of King George's continental dominions. 
It has always been the custom to speak con- The Eiecto- 
temptuously of them, as if they gave no addition rate - 
to the strength of England, but were in every way an 
incumbrance. Assertions to this effect are constantly 
made, but it is difficult to find any accurate estimate of 
the size of the electorate. Neither contemporary nor 
recent historians furnish facts. There are various points 
of view from which the comparison can be made — area, 
population, army, revenue. 

With respect to area it would seem as if King George's 
continental dominions amounted to between one-fourth 
and one-fifth of the area of England and 
Wales. The electorate was smaller than Scot- 
land, much larger than Wales. If we compare it with the 
United Kingdom, then, as the area of Scotland and 
Ireland together is about equal to that of England and 
Wales, we may say that it was one-ninth — in itself no 
despicable territorial addition. 

It is always difficult to discover the population of a 
country in the days before it was usual to take a census. 
The population of England at the accession of King 
George I. is variously estimated between five and seven 
millions. It is still more difficult to guess the population 
of the electorate. Mr. Consul Ker took some trouble 
to obtain information about the chief towns a 
few years earlier. He gives the number of ° pu a '° 
the houses ' as they were given to me not only from the 



20 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 17 14 

surveyors and city carpenters, but from the Books of the 
Hearth Money, and the Books of the Verpounding, where 
such taxes are paid.' 

The capital is not at the head of the list. The three- 
largest towns, as given by Mr. Consul Ker, are : — 

Houses. 

Lunenburgh 3jio° 

Osnaburgh . . . . . 2,200 
Hanover l $S° 

Now Osnaburgh was not, strictly speaking, in Han- 
over at all, as the map will show. It was the capital 
of the Bishopric of Osnaburgh, which, by a curious ar- 
rangement of the Treaty of Westphalia, was to be 
governed alternately by a Roman Catholic and Pro- 
testant Bishop. 

In 1688, the year when these facts were collected, a 
Protestant ruled ; then, from 1692 to 17 16, a Catholic, who 
was succeeded by Augustus, brother of George I., who 
died in 1728. Nor was it until 1803 that Osnabriick, as it 
ought to be called, was secularised and embodied in 
Hanover. We have, therefore, only two towns in the 
electorate of any considerable size. Next to these were 
Stade, Verden, Zell, Clausthal, and Gottingen, where at a 
later date George I. founded a famous university. The 
Bishopric of Bremen contained no very large town, for 
the city of Bremen was an independent Free Town and 
did not go with the Bishopric ; but Stade, from its neigh- 
bourhood to the mouth of the Elbe, was of considerable 
importance. Harburg also, near Hamburg, was a centre 
of trade, and there was in the south the very ancient 
town of Hamlin, but its population was not large. 

In the mining districts no doubt the numbers to the 
square mile would be large, but elsewhere, with few towns 
and not many villages and an agricultural population 




LoncLorh/Longnxca-Ls & Co- 



Ea^WelLer 



sa.d. 1 7 14 The Electorate. 21 

it cannot have been great. The largest town, Lunenburgh, 
would be a little more than half the size of Bristol. The 
estimate hardly rises above guesswork, but we may infer 
that the whole population of the electorate did not exceed 
half a million, less than one-tenth of the population of 
England and Wales, less than the population of London, 
which had, however, already began to be disproportionate 
in its growth. 

The army of the electorate was very large in proportion 
to the population. Again we have a statement made by 
Mr. Consul Ker. We find that ' the Houses of 
Wolfenbiittel and Liineburg kept on foot in 
the years 1683-4 an army of i8,oco foot and 9,000 horse, 
whereof Ernest Augustus at his own expense entertained 
10,000 foot and 5,000 horse in his dominions. These he 
considerably augmented afterwards.' In this respect the 
electorate comes nearest to the United Kingdom. The 
peace footing of the English army after the peace of 
Utrecht was fixed at 8,000 men in Great Britain and 
11,000 more in the plantations (i.e. colonies) and abroad. 
There was still in England a strong dislike of a standing 
army, such as was not felt, or at any rate not expressed, 
on the continent. In proportion to the size and import- 
ance of states, the armies of continental powers have 
always been much in excess of the English army, chiefly 
for the reason that England's first line of defence is the 
navy. 

But, according to the old proverb, money is the sinews 
of war, and we may ask, ' How did the two stand as 
regards revenue?' In a speech delivered in 
the House of Lords in January 1739 Lord Ches- 
terfield spoke with bitter irony of England, ' so happily 
annexed to his Majesty's German dominions,' and made 
this statement about the national resources : ' The whole 
revenues of the electorate at the time of his late Majesty's 



22 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 17 14 

accession to the throne of these realms did not amount 
to more than 300,000/. a year.' The annual revenue of 
England at the same time (17 14) was under 5 millions. 
A year or two before it had reached the figure of 5| 
millions. The expenditure on the debt alone took more 
than half the revenue. Even then, it may be seen,. 
England was richer than her neighbours. At the union 
with Scotland the share of the latter in the land-tax 
was fixed at one-fortieth. 

To sum up, therefore, the electorate stood to the 
United Kingdom in the following proportions. As far 
The propor- as area was concerned, about one-ninth ; in 
tions. population, about one-twelfth ; in military 

strength, much nearer an equality to the English army 
on its peace footing, and not counting the navy : in 
national revenue, about one-twentieth. The wealth of 
the two nations may perhaps have borne the same 
proportion as the revenue. England was already 
rising to prominence as a trading community, and 
London was certainly the chief commercial city of 
the world. No doubt the Hanoverians when they 
saw London first thought what the Prussian general, 
Bliicher, is reported to have expressed a century later — 
' What plunder ! \ 

It was a wealthy inheritance that George, Elector of 
Brunswick- Liineburg, was about to take up. 

The union with Hanover was always unpopular in 
England, more unpopular even than the first two sove- 
Unionun- reigns themselves, who, although not of a cha- 
popuiar. racter to win their subjects' love, yet repre- 
sented a principle. ' If you wish the Pretender never to- 
be King of England,' said a witty lord, ' have him made 
Elector of Hanover. It is quite certain the English 
people will never take another king from there.' The 
belief was general that poor Germans had come to 



a.d. 17 14 The Electorate, 23 

plunder the richer English. This belief is expressed in 
the humorous story of the Hanoverian Court lady whose 
carriage was mobbed in London. Putting her head out 
of the carriage window, she said, in broken English, 
' Peace, good people ; are we not come for all of your 
goods ? ' meaning ' for the good of all of you.' ' Yes, 3 
promptly replied one in the mob, ' and for our chattels 
too.' The same thought is involved in Lord Chester- 
field's complaint, when, after estimating the paltry 
revenue of the electorate, he adds, ' And yet, soon after- 
wards, the considerable purchases of Bremen and Verden 
were made for above 500,000/. sterling. ... At least a 
million sterling has been laid out over and above in new 
acquisitions,' It may be asked why English ministers 
acquiesced in these purchases with English money ; and 
answer must be made that they looked upon the electorate 
and the United Kingdom as permanently joined, so that 
additions to the one were acquisitions for the whole. 
During our Hanoverian period there is a constant com- 
plaint that England is steered by a Hanoverian rudder, 
just as in William III.'s reign the charge was that our 
rudder was Dutch. William used England gladly to 
forward projects dear to his heart, but they were projects 
for the good of Europe, and not only of Holland. The 
policy of the first two Georges cannot be described as 
European. There is no doubt that they preferred their 
continental home to their English kingdom, that they 
always left the latter with pleasure and returned to it 
with regret, and that they favoured Hanoverians. Many 
Englishmen disliked this strongly, but felt that it was 
not an unreasonable price to pay for the exclusion of the 
Stuarts. 

It is, however, a little curious that relief was not sought 
in a method suggested by Sir Robert Walpole shortly 
before his fall. 'One day,' reports Speaker Onslow, 'he 



24 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 17 14 

took me aside and said, "What will you say, Speaker, 
if this hand of mine shall bring a message from the 
Proposed King to the House of Commons declaring his 
separation. CO nsent to having any of his family after his 
own death to be made by Act of Parliament incapa- 
ble of inheriting and enjoying the crown and possessing 
the electoral dominions at the same time ? " My answer 
was, " Sir, it will be as a message from Heaven." ' 
The message, however, never came. 

Exactly a century after the accession of King George I. 
the electorate, which, with the fall of the Holy Roman 
Later Empire in 1806, had ceased to be an electo- 
history. ra te, was at the Congress of Vienna converted 
into the kingdom of Hanover. Then for the first time 
Hanover, properly only the name of the city, though 
often popularly used for the electorate of Brunswick- 
Liineburg, became the name of the state. On the 
accession of Queen Victoria in 1837 the long-desired 
separation took place, because the Salic law prevented 
the kingdom of Hanover passing into female hands. 
The wisdom of Walpole's suggestion in the previous 
century has been shown by the avoidance of the very 
serious complications that would have arisen in 1866 if 
Hanover and England had possessed the same ruler 
In that year Hanover took the side of Austria against 
Prussia, and the latter, victorious in the Seven Weeks' 
War, absorbed all the powers of North Germany that 
were opposed to her. Had England then been united 
with Hanover, the war would have attained much larger 
proportions, and must have been much more serious. 
The union of Germany might have been indefinitely 
retarded. 

It would be invidious to make comparisons between 
the culture and civilisation of Hanover and England ; 
but it is pleasant to call to mind the names and careers of 



a. d. 1 7 14 The Electorate, 25 

their greatest men. A story runs that once George I. 
was complimented on having two such possessions as 
England and his electorate, and that he replied Newton and 
that he considered it a far greater honour to Leibmtz - 
have amongst his subjects two such men as Sir Isaac 
Newton and Leibnitz. Whether this story be true or 
not, certainly of all the subjects in his continental 
dominions none was so famous as the latter philosopher, 
some little account of whom may be of interest. 

Gottfried Wilh elm Leibnitz was born in 1646 at 
Leipzig, where his father was a university professor. 
When be was only six he lost his father, in- 
heriting from him a large library of books, 
which he eagerly read. As a boy he learnt many things, 
and as a young man studied in turn at three different 
universities. Classics, philosophy, mathematics, and 
law all claimed his attention : nor did he even disdain to 
concern himself with alchemy. In childhood a boy 
prodigy, throughout life Leibnitz was regarded as a 
kind of universal genius. He wrote on philosophical 
questions, on theological, on legal, and historical. On 
one occasion George I. called him a living dictionary. 
When Leibnitz w*as about thirty he was invited by the 
Duke of Brunswick- Liineburg, whose successors after- 
wards became electors, to take up his residence at the 
Court of Hanover, where he was treated with great kind- 
ness and most highly valued, especially by the Electress 
Sophia. The original design was that Leibnitz should 
write the history of the House of Brunswick. It reads 
like a satire on German thoroughness to hear that the 
preparations which Leibnitz thought necessary for so 
important a work carried him back as a preliminary to a 
study of geology, so as to know the state of the world 
before the creation. Probably his most famous book is 
his ' Theodicea' — a treatise on theology and philosophy — • 



26 The Early Hanoverians, a.d. 1714 

written to 'justify the ways of God to man.' In his later 
years Leibnitz had an unfortunate controversy with 
Newton, each claiming to have first discovered the 
doctrine of the differential calculus. The truth was that 
both had made the same discovery independently and 
nearly simultaneously. Some two years after the suc- 
cession of King George to the throne Leibnitz died. He 
had been suffering badly from the gout, and possessing 
some knowledge of medicine — of what subject, indeed, 
did he not know something ? — he treated himself with a 
new remedy, and the cure proved fatal to him within the 
space of an hour. 



CHAPTER IV. 

FIRST MEASURES. 

Just seven weeks after the death of Queen Anne, King 
George landed at Greenwich. It was on a Sunday 
Arrival of evening, and there was a large concourse to 
George I. welcome the new King, including the Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, the Duke of Marlborough, and 
all the more prominent peers of both parties. The King, 
however, made a marked distinction in the way in 
which he received them. To the Whigs he was very 
gracious, on the Tories he turned his back. From 
this time forward it became quite evident that all his 
support would be given to the former party. A few 
days before the King's arrival he had sent orders that 
Bolingbroke should be deprived of office, and the orders 
had been carried out almost with rudeness, certainly 
without the respect that should have been shown to the 
fallen statesman. This is Bolingbroke's own comment 



a.d. 1 7 14 First Measures. 27 

on his treatment : ' To be removed was neither matter 
of surprise nor of concern to me, but the manner of my 
removal shocked me for at least two minutes. I am not 
in the least intimidated from any consideration of the 
Whig malice and power, but the grief of my soul is this 
— I see plainly that the Tory party is gone.' The 
succession of King George to the throne was a critical 
point in the history of party government. It is possible 
that, if King George had known how to hold the balance 
between the two parties, the system of government by a 
cabinet entirely drawn from one party might never have 
prevailed. 

The ablest man in his former dominions, though he 
had shown his ability in other matters rather than in 
politics, the philosopher Leibnitz, strongly 

, . , _ . . Whigs only. 

advised George not to recognise parties in 
England, but to choose his ministers from Whigs or 
Tories indiscriminately ; to choose the best man for each 
particular office irrespective of his political views. Other 
counsels, however, prevailed ; and the behaviour of the 
King on his landing, his turning his back upon the Tory 
peers, and refusal even to be civil to them, were merely 
external signs that the Tories were to be excluded from 
office. The sympathies of the first two Georges were 
entirely with the Whigs. The third George made an 
attempt to be rid of party domination ; an attempt 
which proved unsuccessful and, it may almost be said, 
disastrous. 

George I. was not a remarkably intelligent man, 
but he knew perfectly clearly the limits of his power. 
It seems strange that he should have been „. , . 

... r , Kings lgno- 

allowed to grow up entirely ignorant of the ranee of 
English language, especially when we con- ng 1S ' 
sider that his mother was an accomplished linguist. 
But not until the death of Queen Anne's son, the young 



28 The Early Hanoverians! a.d. 17 14 

Duke of Gloucester, did there seem to be any prospect 
that the English throne would pass to the House of 
Hanover ; and when the Duke of Gloucester died George 
was well over forty, and at that age most men do not take 
■kindly to grammars and exercise books. In consequence 
of King George's ignorance of English it was futile for him 
to preside at meetings of the Cabinet, and exceedingly 
difficult for him to understand the character of bills to 
be proposed or measures to be taken. The result was 
that the position of the Sovereign was changed, and, 
according to the French epigram, henceforth the Eng- 
lish King was a constitutional king who reigns, but does 
not govern. 

As King George could not hold the balance between 
the two parties he leant wholly to one, and from this 
Constitu- time forward government by one party at 
tkmalking. a time became the rule in English politics. 
In the reign of William III. and Anne there had been 
an approximation to this state of things, but the change 
was now complete. In one department only of public 
affairs did the King still keep and exercise influence — 
the relations with foreign governments. In the foreign 
policy of the nation King George had a considerable and 
not in all respects a salutary power. Naturally, but 
unfortunately, England became involved in quarrels 
which concerned Hanover rather than England. 

This was shown in a matter that took place very 
shortly after the beginning of the reign. Bremen and 
Bremen and Verden are two districts upon the river Weser, 
Verden. lying between Hanover and the sea. They 
had been independent bishoprics, but at the end of the 
Thirty Years' War had fallen to Sweden as part of her 
share of the spoils. For over sixty years they continued 
outlying possessions of Sweden ; at the end of that time 
they had been conquered by Denmark, whilst Charles 



a.d. 1 7 14 First Measures, 29 

XII. King of Sweden, defeated by Russia at the battle 
of Puitowa, remained in voluntary exile in Turkey. 
The King of Denmark offered to sell them to George 
for the sum of 150,000/., on condition that Hanover 
would join Denmark against Sweden. The purchase 
was made, no one thinking of taking into account the 
feelings of the unfortunate inhabitants, who, as Germans, 
would very likely have preferred Hanover ; and an 
English fleet was sent into the Baltic, but luckily never 
came to fighting. Nevertheless it was evident that 
England was risking the chance of a war with Sweden 
for the sake of Hanover ; and there was little reason 
for wonder when Charles XII., having in a manner 
worthy of a hero of romance returned from Turkey, 
declared that he would help the Pretender. 

According to old English law the death of a king or 
queen involved the dissolution of Parliament. The 
lawyers argued that the reigning Sovereign i n Parlia- 
was the head of the Parliament, and the ment - 
head failing, the whole body was extinct. But shortly 
before the accession of George I., in the reigns of 
William III. and of Anne, the fear of a dispute as to 
the succession was so strong that practical needs 
overcame the arguments of the lawyers, and new 
statutes were passed, allowing the Parliament in being to 
continue for a period of six months after the death of the 
Sovereign. On the very day that Queen Anne died, 
albeit a Sunday, Parliament met. The members took 
the oaths to King George, and proceeded to vote dutiful 
addresses. The civil list, or income allowed to the 
Sovereign, was fixed at 700,000/. —the same amount as 
under Queen Anne — though the Tories, anxious to win 
the favour of the new King, wished to raise the amount 
to a million. There chanced to be some arrears of pay 
due to the Hanoverian troops. When in 17 12 the English 



30 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1714 

troops under the Duke of Ormond had been withdrawn 
from the army of the grand allies, the Hanoverian troops 
in English pay refused to obey orders, counting the with- 
drawal as a desertion in the face of the enemy. A great 
dispute arose as to their pay. The Tories, who wished 
the war closed and admired the withdrawal of the English 
troops, had voted resolutely against the payment of the 
Hanoverians. The Whigs, who were all for Marlborough 
and the war, admired the conduct of the Hanoverians, 
and wished to pay them. But circumstances alter cases, 
and, the ruler of Hanover having become King of 
England, the motion to pay the troops was carried with- 
out opposition. A reward of no less than 100,000/. was 
offered to anyone who should seize the Pretender in case 
of his landing. The Parliament was then prorogued. 

After the King's arrival, and within the six months 
allowed by the law, the Parliament was dissolved by pro- 
General clamation, and a new Parliament called. In 
election. foe proclamation by which the new Parliament 
was summoned, the ministers most improperly invited 
the electors in their choice of candidates ' to have a par- 
ticular regard to such as showed a firmness to the Pro- 
testant succession when it was in danger.' The result of 
the general election was a large Whig majority, and during 
the remainder of this reign and through all the next 
the Whigs had exclusive possession of power. 

W T ith a new reign and a new House of Commons, it 
would have been wise to have made a fresh start ; but the 
Revenge on Whig ministers were unwilling to forego an 
Tory minis- opportunity for revenge. At the beginning of 
the first session a committee of the House of 
Commons was appointed to consider all the circumstances 
relating to the treaty of Utrecht. This committee did 
its work elaborately, for the reading of its report 
occupied five hours, and on conclusion of the reading 



a. d. 1 7 14 First Measures, 31 

it was determined that Bolingbroke and Oxford should 
be impeached for their share in the treaty. A few days 
later it was likewise determined to impeach the Duke 
of Ormond, the general who had withdrawn the troops 
from the allied army. Impeachment means prosecution 
by the House of Commons before the House of Lords. 
Bolingbroke had apparently gauged the temper of the 
House, for he fled the country even before the report 
of the committee was made. The Duke of Ormond 
fled also, but Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, the late 
Prime Minister, stood his ground, and was committed 
to the Tower. The story goes that Ormond before flying 
urged Oxford also to escape, and being unable to per- 
suade him took his leave with the words, ' Farewell, 
Oxford without a head,' to which the reply came at once, 
' Farewell, Duke without a duchy.' Oxford preserved 
his head, but Ormond lost his duchy, for the trial of the 
former before his peers was delayed over a space of two 
years, during which the Jacobite rising was entirely sup- 
pressed and a change in the direction of clemency had 
come over the minds of the ministers. At the end of the 
two years the charges were dropped and Oxford released. 

Against Bolingbroke and Ormond in their absence 
bills of attainder were passed. 

These proceedings were highly impolitic, if, indeed, 
they were not absolutely unjust. The treaty of Utrecht 
was made because the English people were 
tired of the war with France. The manner 
of bringing about the treaty was in the highest degree 
unsatisfactory: the treatment of the allies was dishonour- 
able. The Duke of Ormond, when appointed to succeed 
Marlborough as Commander-in-Chief, received definite 
orders, known as the ' restraining orders,' by which he 
still appeared to be fighting on the side of the allies 
whilst in reality he was to carry on no operations against 



32 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 17 14 

the French. But Ormond as a soldier had to obey 
orders ; and the conduct of the two ministers, Harley 
and Bolingbroke, however disgraceful, had been known 
to and approved by two distinct Parliaments. These con- 
siderations should have saved them from prosecution : 
but the violence of the Whigs helped to drive the Tories 
into more violent opposition. Bolingbroke, it is believed, 
was quite willing to let bygones be bygones, and would 
have accepted office under King George. Within twelve 
months of his accession he received the seals as Secre- 
tary of State to the Pretender, joining himself to the 
mock court which the latter maintained at Paris. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE FIFTEEN. 



There can be little doubt that the confirmed Jacobites 
were ready, at any time after the death of Queen Anne, 
to make an attempt to restore the Stuarts. 
restore the What may be doubted is whether their numbers 
Stuarts. were sufficient to justify such an attempt by 
giving it any chance of success. During the first year of 
the new King's reign his decided and manifest inclination 
towards the Whig party and the vindictive treatment of 
the Tory leaders had, by swelling the ranks of the dis- 
contented, given the attempt a much better, and indeed 
its only, chance. From the date of the revolution, known, 
from its bloodless character, as the Glorious Revolution, 
to the time when the hopes of the Jacobites were crushed 
in the defeat of Culloden, and by the cruel punishment 
which followed it— a period of fifty-eight years — constant 
were the efforts made to restore the exiled family. Such 
efforts may be classed under two heads. For the first 



a.d. 1 71 5 The Fifteen. 33 

twenty-five years of this period England was for the 
most part at war with France, and the hope of the 
Jacobites lay in the defeat of their country. At the begin- 
ning of the first war, which lacks a recognised name, but 
may be known as the War of the First Grand Alliance, 
Ireland held out vigorously for James II. until the battle 
of the Boyne and the pacification of Limerick destroyed 
his power there. The Highlands of Scotland held out 
under the heroic Dundee until the victory of Killiecrankie 
proved through his death worse than a defeat. The re- 
mainder of that war was a sort of drawn combat. Though 
William often lost battles his antagonists gained little 
by their victories. In the second war, the War of the 
Spanish Succession, which Lewis' recognition of James' 
son as King of England contributed no little to bring 
about, the military genius and splendid successes of 
Marlborough gave no hope for final victory to France or 
restoration by the French of the Stuart dynasty. When 
the treaty of Utrecht closed that war James, the old 
Pretender, had to retire from France and take refuge in 
Lorraine. Baffled in the hope of help from abroad, 
more attention was given to rebellion at home. Once 
in Queen Anne's reign, when the unpopularity of the 
Union still made the Scotchmen sore, an attempt was 
made, which failed, first, because, when his adherents 
were ready, the Pretender, then nearly twenty, had the 
measles ; when he had recovered from the measles, 
and came to Scotland, the adherents on shore were 
not ready. But after all Anne was a Stuart, half-sister 
of the Pretender ; whilst her successor, though great- 
grandson of a Stuart king, can hardly be called a Stuart 
Stronger attempts, therefore, might fairly be expected. 
In this volume accounts of two will be found, neither 
of them despicable, either of which with a little more 
effort, a little more well-directed energy, might have 
M. H. D 



34 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 17 15 

succeeded. They are called after their dates — - the 
Fifteen and the Forty-five. The Fifteen was the rising 
of the old. Pretender, James Francis Edward, against 
George I. ; the Forty-five was the rising of his son, 
Charles Edward, the young Pretender, against George II. 
It will be shown that the latter was the more formidable 
of the two. 

Bolingbroke, after his flight from England, had been 
made chief adviser of him whom his friends called James 
III., his enemies the Pretender, and whom 
those who were neither called by the neutral 
name of the Chevalier de St. George. Bolingbroke knew a 
good deal about the discontent in England, and believed 
that with a French force of moderate strength as a nucleus 
a rising might be made simultaneously in Scotland 
and in several parts of England. By representations 
made to King Lewis XIV., he very nearly succeeded 
in bringing about a war between France and England. 
Bolingbroke himself afterwards declared that had Lewis 
lived such a war would have broken out within six 
months. But Lewis' life was an insecure foundation 
upon which to build, and his death destroyed any hopes 
of assistance from France. The Regent, his successor, 
was determined to be friendly with England. 

In the United Kingdom the head of the Jacobite party 
was John, Earl of Mar, a nobleman whose nickname, 
T hn Earl ' Bobbing John,' tells us his character. He 
of Mar. had changed his side several times, and if he 

could have obtained office from King George would have 
remained, apparently at least, a loyal subject. But King 
George received the Earl with insult, and even turned 
his back upon him as he offered homage on the occa- 
sion of the King's landing. Mar, though once a Whig ? 
had been manager for Scotland as Secretary of State in 
the time of Tory sway at the end of the late reign. Sore 



a.d. 1715 The Fifteen. 35 

at the deprivation of office, he joined the Jacobites, by 
whom he was thought to have great weight in Scotland. 
But though a cunning politician, and skilled in intrigue, 
he was too selfish as well as too unskilful in matters of 
war to be the leader of a successful rebellion. 

One day he attended a levee held by King George ; 
next day he left London, in disguise, on board a collier 
bound for the north. Having reached his home 
in Aberdeenshire, he issued invitations to a nsm &- 
great hunt. After a stirring speech from their inviter, 
those who were assembled took an oath of allegiance to 
Mar as general for King James. A few days later, on 
September 6, the standard was raised for the Chevalier. 
It was noticed as an evil omen that the gilt ball fell down 
from the top of the pole. The insurrection soon spread, 
almost all the Highlanders being for the descendant of 
their ancient kings. 

A great success nearly fell to the share of the rebels 
within the first three days. A plot had been set on foot 
by some friends of the cause in Edinburgh to Edinburgh 
seize Edinburgh Castle. A sergeant and two Castle. 
privates of the garrison were bribed or cajoled to admit 
Jacobite soldiers within, and a time was fixed for scaling 
the walls when one of these three would be the sentinel. 
The cause of failure should be told in the words of a 
contemporary, it being premised that for a conspiracy to 
succeed secrecy and punctuality are absolutely necessary. 
' They were so far from carrying on their affairs privately 
that a gentleman, who was not concerned, told me that 
he was in a house that evening where eighteen of them 
were drinking, and heard the hostess say that they were 
powdering their hair for an attack on the castle.' The 
result of the ' powdering ' was that the attacking party 
arrived too late : the sentinels were being changed, and 
news of the attempt had meanwhile been conveyed to 



36 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 17 15 

the garrison through the sister-in-law of one of the con- 
spirators. 

Bolingbroke had given his opinion that Scotland must 
not rise without England ; England would not rise with- 
out aid from France ; and aid from France 
ngan ' was not at present to be expected. There 
can, however, be no doubt that the Earl of Mar expected, 
when he began the rebellion in Scotland, that risings 
would take place in England at the same time or follow- 
very soon. This opinion was shared by the English 
ministers, who promptly arrested all noblemen, promi- 
nent men, and gentlemen, and sent soldiers to all towns 
suspected of being on the Jacobite side. This was the 
occasion when ' the King to Oxford sent a troop of horse.' 
In Bristol and in Plymouth arms were seized, and horses 
which the Jacobites had got ready ; active Jacobites 
were arrested. In November the Duke of Ormond, 
unwisely driven into exile, came across the 
Channel with a following of less than forty, ex- 
pecting that James' friends would rally round him. He 
landed in Devonshire, but, finding no one to join him, 
was obliged to return. A little later the Duke started 
again, but this time he was driven back by a storm. 

But though Ormond's attempt at an insurrection in 
the west of England was thus defeated by the vigilance 
N rth of °f ^ e mm i sters > there was one part of Eng- 
England, land, not at that time as influential as Oxford 
or Devonshire, though not far behind them in import- 
ance — the north — in which the Jacobites had amuchbetter 
chance. Their natural leader there was James Ratcliffe, 
Earl of Derwentwater, a young Roman Catholic noble- 
man, with large estates and great influence in the north. 
He was at this time only twenty-four, had been brought 
up in France, and had family sympathy with the Stuarts, 
for his mother was an illegitimate daughter of Charles II. 



a.d. 1 71 5 The Fifteen. 37 

Mr. Forster, member for Northumberland, and this young 
nobleman determined to raise their part of the country 
for James. They headed a small force — ' a handful of 
Northumberland foxhunters ' — as Sir Walter Scott calls 
it. Shortly afterwards they were joined by some 
Scotch Jacobites from over the Border, and after a little 
hesitation marched down into Lancashire, Mr. Forster 
being elected general. The Bishop of Carlisle and 
the Lord- Lieutenant of Westmoreland tried resistance, 
called out the militia, but the militia were frightened at 
the insurgents and ran away in a panic. Southwards 
the little Jacobite army marched as far as Battle f 
Preston, gathering numbers, if not strength, Preston, 
as they went ; but being shut into the town of Preston by 
the royal troops they were compelled ignominiously to 
surrender. It is even said that Mr. Forster, the general, 
when he heard of the approach of the royal troops had 
so little idea what to do that he went to bed ! 

On the same day as the surrender of Preston (it was 
Sunday, November 17) took place the battle of Dunblane, 
or Sheriffmuir. The Duke of Argyle was the Battle of 
general whom the ministers in London had Shenffmmr - 
chosen to command the King's men in Scotland. It was 
a good choice. Head of one of the most powerful Scotch 
clans, the Campbells, and believed to be true to the cause 
of King George, he was a good and experienced general as 
well as an able statesman. The Duke, however, had not 
at first large forces at his disposal, and when the battle 
was fought the rebels were at least three to one. The 
smaller force amounted to about 3,300, of whom a third 
were cavalry ; but the smaller force was the better 
disciplined as well as the better commanded. On 
the previous night the Royalists occupied the town of 
Dunblane. The battle was fought on a moor to the east of 
the town, where the sheriff used to exercise his militia. 



38 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1715 

Both sides were anxious to engage. Each commander- 
in-chief took the right wing of his own army. On 
Argyle's right lay a morass, which usually could not 
be crossed ; as, however, there had been a recent hard 
frost, he ventured to send a squadron of horse over it, 
and thus outflanked the enemy. Although the Jacobites 
fought bravely, they were beaten back. Meanwhile, 
upon the other wing, Mar was meeting with a success 
like that of his opponent. A fierce charge of the High- 
landers, maddened by the sight of the fall of a much- 
loved leader from the first fire of the Royalists, drove 
all before them. Target for defence and broadsword for 
slaughter soon did the work ; in a few minutes the 
Royalists on the left wing were routed. Never, perhaps, 
was a stranger battle : each right wing was triumphant, 
each left defeated. It was said of the Duke of Argyle 
that he was not letting his left hand know what his right 
hand was doing. The truth was that his aide-de-camp 
was killed galloping across. When the victorious right 
wings found that the success was theirs alone, they faced 
about and returned to the battle-field. Mar had larger 
numbers and the better position, but not having the 
courage to recognise this truth, nor to act upon it, he gave 
the order to retreat, one of his own followers exclaiming, 
' Oh for one hour of Dundee ! ' The following lines are 
from a ballad written upon the battle :- — 

There's some say that we wan, 
Some say that they wan ; 
And some say that none wan at a', man ; 
There's but ae (one) thing, I'm sure, 
That at Sheriffmuir 
A battle there was that I saw, man : 
And we ran, and they ran, 
And they ran, and we ran, 
And we ran, and they ran av.a', man. 



a.d. 17 1 5 The Fifteen. 39 

It is usual to call this a drawn battle, but the Royalists 
gained more than the Jacobites. They had fewer slain, 
fewer prisoners ; they took cannon and stand- 
ards, and on the day after the battle the Scotch 



rismsr. 



Duke was upon the field ready to engage 
again. But the Highlanders were not ready, and soon 
melted away. In this campaign, as well as in the 
rebellion of the Forty-five, it must be remembered that 
Highlanders are glorious soldiers to fight a battle with, 
but, until they come under the discipline of a regular 
army, the worst soldiers in the world for a whole cam- 
paign. Their undoubted bravery and their personal 
strength, as well, perhaps, as their quaint appearance 
and wild shouts, made them formidable fighters. But 
their jealousy of other clans, even if they had not bitter 
feuds with them, was certain to produce disunion, and, 
too proud to yield for the common good, the formidable 
Highland army would vanish away. In their onslaught 
they may be compared to a resistless snow storm in 
their own mountains ; but if their enemies could wait, 
the Highland clans became like the same snow under the 
genial influence of the midday sun. 

Whilst Mar was doing his ineffectual best to keep the 
Highlanders together, whilst many of those who re- 
mained were becoming anxious to treat, and Late arrival 
the King's ministers, successful in stamping of James, 
out rebellion in England, were in a position to send 
strong reinforcements, including some Dutch regiments, 
to the north, the Chevalier landed. Mar's raising of the 
standard was on September 6 ; the Prince did not 
arrive until December 22. It was not his fault that he 
was late. He had hoped more from Ormond's attempt 
in the west of England, and when on its failure he 
wanted to sail to Scotland, English cruisers and contrary 
weather had prevented him. But it certainly was a 



40 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1715 

misfortune for his cause. Expecting to find a large High- 
land force, he found a small one. The spirit was gone 
out of the. attempt, and he was not the man to bring it 
back again. All the princes of the House of Stuart from 
the time of James I. maybe described as obstinate in ac- 
tion and unwise in selection of advisers; but many of them 
were genial, witty, lively, and could inspire enthusiasm. 
This prince, however, was grave, even gloomy ; and his 
presence added nothing to the success of his cause. 
Bitterly disappointed, he had not the good sense to hide 
his disappointment, and on one occasion even shed tears. 
His speeches were full of complaints that he had been 
deceived. ' For him it was no new thing to be unfortu- 
nate, since his whole life, from his cradle, had been a 
constant series of misfortunes.' As the Royalists ad- 
vanced, the Highlanders, much to their disgust, received 
orders to retreat, and James was induced by his own 
friends, after a sojourn in Scotland of little more than six 
weeks, to return to France. When their prince was gone 
the insurgents dispersed. Five months had not passed 
since the beginning of the insurrection. 

When the rebellion was over the rebels who were 
prisoners were certainly treated with clemency. Seven 
peers were tried, were found or pleaded guilty 
of treason, and condemned to death ; but of 
these only two were beheaded, the Earl of Derwent- 
water being one. The vast estates of the former 
were confiscated and bestowed on Greenwich hospital, a 
place for broken-down seamen, and the revenues of the 
Derwentwater estates are still used for pensions to 
sailors. Of the others three were pardoned and two 
escaped from the Tower. The story of the escape of 
one nobleman is romantic. His wife came to visit him, 
and he escaped in her clothes. 

Of the inferior offenders it may be noted that Mr. 



a.d. 1 715 The Fifteen. 41 

Forster escaped from prison. Of the soldiers twenty -two 
were hanged in Lancashire and four in London. Many 
of the others were transported to the colonies in America, 
and it is said that when the War of Independence broke 
out their descendants took the King's side ; so far were 
they, at least, from any feeling that after ' the Fifteen ' 
' the violence of the Whigs dyed the royal ermine with 
blood/ Probably unsuccessful rebels were never so 
leniently treated. 

After the suppression of the insurrection the attention 
of the Government was naturally turned to measures 
that would prevent the recurrence of a rising Roac j s ; n t he 
in the Highlands. The best of all the mea- Highlands. 
sures was exceedingly simple — the providing good roads 
throughout the Highlands. The advantage of these 
excellent roads was that they enabled troops to be 
speedily conveyed from point to point upon the first 
news of a rising. Hitherto it had been almost impos- 
sible for any but trained mountaineers to travel, much 
less to travel quickly. But it will at once be evident 
that the roads would be used not only by troops : other 
good results followed, the promotion of trade and the 
spread of commercial intercourse. The roads were 
chiefly made by soldiers under the command of Marshal 
Wade. They gave rise to a famous couplet : 

If you had seen these roads before they were made 

You would hold up your hands and bless General Wade. 

This, however, is not to be regarded as a bull, for a road 
may be a road before it is a ' made ' road. 



42 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 171 5 

CHAPTER VI. 

SEPTENNIAL ACT AND PEERAGE BILL. 

In the April of the year that followed ' the Fifteen 3 the 
ministers brought in and carried a bill extending the 
Septennial duration of Parliaments. Originally the sove- 
Act. reign could call and dissolve a Parliament 

at his pleasure. The surviving members of the Long 
Parliament met in the year of the Restoration, twenty 
chequered years after their eventful election. Charles II. 
kept one Parliament together for seventeen years. Such 
a power is evidently greatly in favour of the sovereign, 
who, by selecting a moment of popularity, might 
secure a Parliament to his liking, and keep it at a 
time when it would no longer represent the feeling of the 
nation. To prevent such a course the Triennial Bill 
was passed a few years after the accession of William 
and Mary, by which it was made compulsory that the 
House of Commons should be re-elected every three 
years. William's title was too insecure for him to resist 
even if he wished. But the Parliaments elected under 
the Triennial Act had not been especially good Parlia- 
ments, not less corrupt than others nor more zealous for 
popular rights ; and now, with a rebellion just quelled 
and with a sovereign personally unpopular, it was felt 
that there would be no little danger in holding a general 
election. The Septennial Bill, increasing the length of 
life of a Parliament to seven years, was brought in to the 
House of Lords, and carried through all its stages in both 
Houses in a little over a fortnight. In each House there 
was opposition to the measure, especially on the very 
fair ground that this particular Parliament had no right 
to extend its own duration, to which argument there was 



a. d. 1 7 15 Septennial Act and Peerage Bill. 43 

no reply except the unanswerable plea of the public 
good. A decided majority, however, passed the bill, 
and there was no strong feeling on either side amongst 
the people at large. The Septennial Act is still the law 
of England, though custom has reduced the limit for a 
Parliament's duration from seven years to a period never 
exceeding six ; even this limit a Parliament is generally not 
permitted to reach. Though annual Parliaments formed 
one of. the points of the people's charter, there is at 
present no considerable party that wishes to repeal the 
Septennial Act. Under it the House of Commons has 
increased in strength, and the period of six or seven 
years, with power in the hands of the sovereign to abridge 
the time, though not to lengthen it, may be regarded as 
a middle course between subserviency to the Crown 
which a long-lived parliament might exhibit, and the 
frequent shiftings of power through annual parliaments. 
Some three years later an endeavour was made to alter 
the constitution of the House of Lords. 

The Peerage Bill was a proposal of the ministry to 
limit the King's prerogative in the matter of the creation 
of peers. On the occasion of the treaty of 
Utrecht, though there was a majority in the eerage 
Commons in its favour, the majority in the House of 
Lords was hostile to the treaty, for in that House the 
majority was Whig. In the present day this would pro- 
bably not endanger a treaty, but at the time it was 
thought so important to secure a majority in each House 
that Harley — or, to give him his title, Lord Oxford — as the 
Prime Minister, advised the Queen to make twelve new 
peers to vote for the treaty, thus securing the desired 
majority. A witty lord, in allusion to their number being 
the same as that of a common jury, asked if the new 
lords ' voted separately or through their foreman.' The 
advice which Harley gave in this matter, as straining the 



44 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1715 

royal prerogative, was one of the charges upon which stress 
was laid in the attack made upon him at the beginning 
of the reign. The ministers now proposed that the King 
should surrender the prerogative of making an unlimited 
number of peers, and they persuaded King George to 
give his assent to their proposal. The Peerage Bill pro- 
vided that beyond the royal family the sovereign should 
have power only to add six to the existing number, 
though a new peer might be created whenever a peerage 
became extinct. The bill further provided that the 
system of electing sixteen representative peers of Scotland 
should cease, twenty-five being called up at once to the 
House of Lords, and the remaining Scotch peers being 
summoned to take seats whenever one of these twenty-five 
peerages became extinct. This latter proposal, though 
nowadays it would absorb almost all the Scotch peers, 
who are not also peers of the United Kingdom, and might 
therefore be held to be judicious, was shown to be hard 
on the Scotch peers who would not be within the magic 
twenty-five. Such peers have this peculiar disadvantage, 
that they cannot sit in the House of Commons. But the 
greater part of the opposition was directed against the 
limitation of the peerage. If this principle had become 
law it would have changed the character of the English 
House of Lords, and converted it into a caste. It is the 
glory of that House that by merit any one may rise to it, and 
that the son of a peer is a commoner ; whilst a younger 
son, except of his own merit, will never be anything 
else. Moreover, the creation of peers is a safety-valve 
to the political machine. If the sovereign and the 
Commons be at one in favour of any measure, and the 
Lords differ from them, this power, not necessarily used, 
but held in reserve, would prevent a deadlock. On 
one famous occasion it had this effect. The difficulty in 
carrying the great Reform Bill would have been much 



a. d. 1 71 5 Septennial Act and Peerage Bill. 45 

greater if this unwise Peerage Bill had been law. Natu- 
rally the Lords liked it, for it increased the power of 
each one of them individually, as well as of their House 
collectively. It was equally natural that the Commons 
rejected the measure. Their action seems to have been 
almost entirely due to Walpole, who insisted that the 
Whigs in the Commons ought to oppose the measure, 
and who led the opposition with a most eloquent speech. 
His influence on this occasion may be said to have fore- 
shadowed the fact that he was the coming leader. 

It is interesting to remember, in connection with the 
conflict which raged over the Peerage Bill, that in the 
war of pamphlets which all political measures Addison and 
produced, answering to modern leading articles, Steele. 
a sort of literary duel was fought between Addison and 
Steele. Once they had been close friends, but on this 
occasion they wrote very bitterly of each other. Addison, 
under the name of ' Old Whig,' took the side of the Lords, 
chiefly basing his support of the Bill on the creation of 
the twelve peers. Steele called himself ' Plebeian,' and 
urged arguments similar to those of Walpole. 

It was only a few weeks after this that Addison died. 
Addison's fame belongs to the world of letters, and rests on 
the purity and delicacy of his writings, and on 
the excellent influence which they enjoyed. He 
was a remarkable instance of the way in which, in that 
day, success in literature drew political position with it. 
On the accession of King George, Addison was appointed 
secretary to the Lords Justices who acted as a Council of 
Pvegency until the King's arrival. One of the common- 
places of essayists is a story how, in drawing up the 
address to the King, Addison hesitated so long in his 
choice of words that at length the Lords Justices sent for 
an ordinary clerk, who at once did what was wanted. 
The obvious answer has been given that a clerk would be 



4.6 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 17 15 

likely to know the forms better than a minister ; and, 
curiously enough, on the accession of George II. a 
similar difficulty in drawing up an address was felt by no 
less an official than the Speaker of the House of Com- 
mons. It is probably true that Addison, though so re- 
nowned a writer, was not a good minister, and a striking 
remark of a modern historian l may here be quoted : 
' What a good exchange of stations might have been 
made by Swift and Addison ! Addison would have made 
an excellent dean, and Swift an admirable secretary of 
state.' This, at any rate, will not hurt the feelings of 
those jealous for literature, because Swift is as famous an 
author as Addison. A serious drawback to usefulness 
upon the Treasury bench in Parliament would have 
arisen from Addison's shy and retiring manner, if the 
traditions be true that he is himself the silent ' Spectator 5 
of his famous book. Strange irony of fate, that the man 
who described himself ' living in the world rather as a 
spectator of mankind than as one of the species,' making 
himself ' a speculative statesman, soldier, merchant, and 
artisan, without ever meddling with any practical part in 
life,' ' resolved to observe an exact neutrality between the 
Whigs and Tories,' should within seven years of penning 
these words be made a secretary of state ! Yet Addi- 
son's colleagues, no incompetent judges, must have 
thought well of his business faculties and valued his 
assistance, for he continually rose in place ; and three 
years from the beginning of the reign we find Addison 
made one of the two secretaries of state. This office 
answers to what we now call the Home Department. 
In this position Addison did not distinguish himself 
except for modesty and leniency ; but he had been re- 
luctant to accept office, was in bad health all the while 
that he held it, and resigned as soon as he could. Fifteen 

1 Sir James Mackintosh. 



a.d. 1 7 15 France and Spain. 47 

months after his resignation, and a few weeks after the 
controversy with Steele, Addison died. The story is 
well known how, on his death-bed, he summoned his step- 
son and former pupil, a wild young lord, that he might 
see in what peace a Christian could die. 



CHAPTER VII. 

FRANCE AND SPAIN. 



On September 1, 17 15, Lewis XIV., generally called 
le Grand Monarque, died, and a cry of relief ran through 
all France, The reign of repression was over ; Death of 
men felt that nothing which might follow could Lewis XIV - 
be worse than that which had been. The public re- 
joicing went even to indecent lengths. The Jesuits 
could with difficulty be protected from the public rage. 
Lewis XIV. was seventy-seven when he died. He had 
begun to reign when he was only five years old, and now a 
little boy of the same age, his great-grandson, Lewis xv 
also a Lewis, was his successor. During the I 7i5- 
last four and a half years of the reign of the old king, 
numerous deaths in the royal family had followed on 
the public calamities and distress of the kingdom. Five 
years previously the king's son, the Dauphin, was living, 
and his grandson, the Duke of Burgundy. France was 
in a condition that required a strong and wise govern- 
ment rather than a minor for a king, together with all 
the perils and cabals which mark a regency. At the 
beginning of the century the great engineer, Vauban, 
declared that nearly a tenth of the country was reduced 
to beggary, and that of the rest only another tenth was 
in any position to give to beggars. Since the beginning 



48 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 17 17 

of the century the distress had become much worse. On 
the death of Lewis XIV. the public debt amounted to 
2,400,000,000 francs, or about 100 million pounds sterling, 
a sum at that day unheard of for a national debt. The 
credit of the French Government was so bad that it 
had to give four times the value in notes for any cash 
that it raised. Throughout France commerce was para- 
lysed, the nobles were crippled by debt, the officials 
could not obtain their salaries. In many parts the 
peasants were starving. The condition of the country 
was a terrible comment on the glories of the reign of 
Lewis XIV. 

The late king had made an elaborate testament with 

arrangements for the regency, and for the education of 

his little successor, but he did not himself expect 

Rc°"£ncy . 

that attention would be paid to it. 'As soon 
as I am dead,' he remarked, ' it will be disregarded. I 
know well enough what was done with the will of the 
king, my father.' Philip, Duke of Orleans, brother's son 
of the late king, was the nearest prince of the blood ; and 
in spite of the late king's will the Parliament of Paris de- 
creed that the Duke of Orleans should have the regency 
without a council — that is, that he should have supreme 
power. It may be as well here to remark that the Parlia- 
ment of Paris was a court of law, not a legislative assembly 
like an English Parliament. 

The Duke of Orleans, father of this Philip, and 
brother to Lewis XIV., may be regarded as the founder 
Duke of of the House of Orleans. The great-grandson 
Orleans, of the Regent was the Duke, known as ' Egalite ' 
during the French Revolution. His son was Lewis Philip, 
King of the French from 1830 to 1848, whose grandson 
in turn is the Count of Paris, the present representative 
of the old royal family of France. 

With the new reign and new regent came a mv 



a.d. 171S France and Spain. 49 

policy. The Duke of Orleans, knowing the exhausted 
state of the country, was determined on a policy 
of peace, especially of peace, and if possible eace P 01 ->- 
of friendship, with England, although he knew full well 
that this was a complete reversal of the traditions of his 
country. Early in 17 17 a formal alliance was made 
between France, England, and the Dutch, to which the 
name of the Triple Alliance was given. The French 
entirely abandoned the cause of the Pretender, and 
recognised the House of Brunswick. The basis of the 
Triple Alliance was the complete carrying out of the 
terms of the treaty of Utrecht, or, to put it in other 
words, the maintenance of existing arrangements in 
Europe. 

In 17 1 8 the Emperor also joined the alliance, which 
then received the name of the Quadruple Alliance. But 
there was little difference beyond the name. Emperor 
The object was the same. The only proposal Charles vl 
of alterations in the conditions of the treaty of Utrecht 
was the exchange of Sicily for Sardinia, the Emperor 
taking Sicily, and the Duke of Savoy Sardinia. Herein 
the Emperor gained a manifest advantage. Sardinia 
was by no means as valuable as Sicily, though more 
handy for the Duke of Savoy. Therefore it was agreed 
that the latter should assume the title of ' King of 
Sardinia.' 

The great war in the reign of Queen Anne was called 
the War of the Spanish Succession. Of the two claimants 
to the crown of Spain, the Archduke Charles ^ ■,• f 

1 ' Jrnilip 01 

was now the Emperor Charles VI., and his Spain. 
rival, Philip, was recognised as King of Spain. This 
King Philip of Spain lost his wife just after the accession 
of George I. in England, and had married again. EI j zabeth 
His new wife was Elizabeth Farnese, Princess Famese. 
of Parma, niece of the reigning Duke of Parma, a strong- 
M. H. E 



50 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 171S 

minded and very ambitious woman. As the Duke of 
Parma had no children, she claimed to be recognised as 
his heiress. When, later, a son was born to her, she was 
still more anxious to obtain this inheritance for him. 
For some time forward this claim was a constant source 
of danger to the peace of Europe. For though the 
triple or quadruple alliance tended to produce peace, 
there was one power in Europe which would not acquiesce 
in these arrangements. Spain was the power which had 
suffered most from the treaty of Utrecht, and Spain, 
at this time, was under an ambitious, bold, and able 
minister. 

Cardinal Alberoni was a man of remarkable talent, 
which, together with unscrupulousness, had raised him, 
in spite of natural disadvantages, from the 
humblest origin. He is described, though 
certainly not by a friendly hand, as a dwarf with broad 
shoulders, a thick head, with a face marked with small- 
pox, and with hardly any nose at all. His father was a 
poor gardener in a small town in Italy, but the son, 
having received from charity the rudiments of education, 
entered the service of the Church and gradually rose 
therein. Diplomacy lured him from the proper work of 
the Church, and he made himself useful first in the small 
Italian court of Parma ; then, especially through the 
means of flattery and assumed jocularity, to a French 
general in Italy, who in turn introduced him to Lewis XIV. 
When the King of Spain married Elizabeth of Parma, 
Alberoni passed into the service of Spain, where he 
resolutely set himself to the task of raising the country 
from the terrible condition into which she had fallen. 
Internal ^ France was in bad plight, Spain was in 
policy. worse. Spain was then very much in the 
state that France was afterwards at the time of the 
Revolution, after another seventy years of misery, mis- 



a.d. 171S Francs and Spain. 51 

rule, and war ; and the distress of Spain proceeded from 
somewhat similar causes. The finances were embarrassed, 
the administration was bad. The growth of trade was 
fettered by the division of the land into provinces, 
each with its own ring of custom-houses. The nobility 
and clergy claimed exemption from taxation. Luckily 
for Alberoni the Crown was very strong. By its power 
alone he deprived the nobility and clergy of their immu- 
nity, and abolished the internal custom-houses. The 
public administration was greatly improved. One cir- 
cumstance helped Alberoni's efforts. Spain had lost 
all her foreign possessions, which though, doubtless, at 
one time a source of revenue, had lately been merely 
an encumbrance and an expense. ' Let your Majesty 
remain but five years at peace,' said Alberoni to the 
King, ' and I will make you the most powerful monarch 
in Europe.' Had all these changes been made solely 
to increase the happiness of Spain and its inhabitants, 
no praise would be too great. By them, perhaps, he 
saved Spain from the catastrophe which awaited France. 
• But they were made only as a means to an end, that 
Spain might embark on a war of aggression in order to 
win back her former greatness. Alberoni was as am- 
bitious as any of the proud Spaniards who were offended 
at his reforms, but he saw more clearly than they that 
only through an increase of internal resources and 
careful husbandry of finances would Spain have power 
abroad. 

Within five years after the treaty of Utrecht, Alberoni 
had so husbanded the internal resources of Spain that he 
considered her in a position to strive after 

, , r , . 1 • -, Alberoni's 

winning back some of the possessions which foreign 
she had lost in the last war. Against different p° 1ic >'- 
members of the alliance he set different schemes on 
foot. Against Austria there is no doubt he was secretly 



52 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1.718 

encouraging the Turks, strange though it may seem 
that a cardinal should urge Mohammedans against a 
Christian power. In order to occupy the attention of 
England, Alberoni was working in order to induce 
Charles XII. of Sweden, angry about the cession of 
Bremen and Verden, to attempt an invasion on behalf 
of the Pretender. The Swedish hero would have proved 
a formidable opponent for any English general except 
Marlborough. For France, Alberoni's design was* to 
ferment conspiracies against the Regent, and to lend 
a helping hand to all who were discontented with his 
government. The King of Spain himself entertained a 
strong feeling of hatred towards his relative, the Regent, 
and was only too ready in every way to oppose him. 
One formidable conspiracy against the Regent was dis- 
covered, and crushed, by way of example, with great 
severity. Without any formal declaration of war,"a power- 
ful Spanish fleet was equipped. Its destination was not 
known until Europe heard that this Spanish force had 
wrested the island of Sardinia from Austria, for the 
cession to Savoy was not yet carried out. When, a 
little later, a Spanish fleet was sent to attempt to regain 
Sicily, an English fleet was found there ready to resist 
them. This fleet was under the command of Admiral 
Byng, the father of that Admiral Byng who was shot for 
not fighting the enemy at the outset of the Seven Years' 
War. Palermo fell an easy prey to the Spaniards, but 
the citadel of Messina held out against them. A naval 
action ensued, in which Byng entirely destroyed the 
Spanish fleet. 

Charles XII., however, had other enemies besides 
George I., and in attacking Norway he fell at the siege 
of Fredericshall. 

His fall was destined to a barren strand, 
A petty fortress and a dubious hand. 



a.d. 1 7 19 France and Spain. 53 

But, in spite of the death of Charles XII., Alberoni still 
determined to persevere with his attempt to help the 
Pretender. At Cadiz a small fleet was col- Death of 
lected of men-of-war and transports, together Charles xil. 

. , , r . . Abortive at- 

with 5,000 men and arms for six times as tempt for 
many Jacobites in Scotland. The Duke of Pretender - 
Ormond was to assume the command. But the English 
Government received news of the attempt, and, as on 
many another occasion, the elements seemed to fight for 
England. A storm scattered the fleet when crossing the 
Bay of Biscay. Two ships reached Scotland with 300 
Spanish soldiers ; they were joined by some 2,000 High- 
landers. But this little force could do nothing, and was 
easily annihilated in the valley of Glenshiel. 

Shortly afterwards war was declared against Spain 
both by France and England. The Pretender, fancy- 
ing that this was his opportunity, hastened Short s 
to Madrid, where he was received with royal i sh war. 
honours. The French sent a force across the Spanish 
frontier under the Duke of Berwick, and seized the town of 
Fontarabia. A short while previously this same duke had 
been commanding French troops fighting on the side of 
the King of Spain. An English fleet took the town of 
Vigo, not for the first time that it was taken by England. 
An Austrian army turned the Spaniards out of Sicily. 
By the end of the year peace was made, the chief condi- 
tion of peace being the dismissal of Alberoni as a general 
troubler of the public quiet. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

LAW AND THE SOUTH SEA BUBBLE. 

The finances of France were in so bad a state that it 
is not wonderful that statesmen should have seized on 



54 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 17 19 

almost any proposals for improving them, A Scotch- 
man, named John Law, exiled from his country because 
T of his share in a duel, who had made a fortune 

Law s pro- _ ' 

posais. by gambling, proposed to the Regent to relieve 
the pressure by means of paper money. The principles 
of political economy were not understood, and it was 
not seen that paper money is only of value where it 
represents wealth, and that wealth consists of the sum 
of things necessary, useful, and agreeable, possessing an 
exchange value. Though convertible paper money may 
usefully be made to represent wealth, an inconvertible 
paper currency is not wealth ; yet the idea that it is seems 
to have a fascination of its own, and to be reproduced 
from time to time in each succeeding generation. Law's 
bank was established as a private bank, but was so 
successful that in a couple of years it was converted by 
the Regent into a royal bank. Had no further steps 
been taken, it is possible that little mischief might have 
accrued, but the bank began to speculate. There was 
joined to it a company called the Mississippi company, 
for trading with the French colony of Louisiana, now 
one of the United States. It was believed that the 
profits of this trade would be enormous, and Law repre- 
sented that, if the country obtained a monopoly, the 
profits should be used to wipe out the whole national 
debt of France. A rush was made for the shares of the 
company, which consequently rose in value until they 
are said to have reached forty times their original value. 
The shares were only to be purchased with the paper 
money of the bank. This created for a time a demand 
for the bank's notes. It seemed as if an era of general 
prosperity had dawned, and the street in which the 
office of the bank stood was crowded from morning 
until night. The wildest excitement prevailed in all 
ranks of society. Money easily won was quickly and 



a.d. 1 7 19 Lazv and the South Sea Bubble. 55 

lavishly spent, often in gross debauchery. The gambling 
spirit pervaded the whole nation for a couple of years, 
at the end of which time the inevitable reaction followed 
upon the splendid vision of prosperity. Law, it is said, 
had issued bank notes for eighty times the value of all 
the coin in France. But from the Mississippi company 
no profits accrued. At length a panic set in. The 
nominal value of its shares came down almost as quickly 
as it had gone up. Within a few months from the time 
when all or almost all were satisfied with the new 
prosperity, Law fled from the country. Had he not first 
concealed himself and then escaped, he would have 
been torn in pieces. He died a few years afterwards in 
Venice in the utmost poverty. The greatest distress was 
felt throughout the whole of France, for almost everyone 
had joined in the general mania for speculation. 

The example of France Avas infectious. England 
caught the infection in what is known as the South Sea 
Bubble. We can see, however, that the inter- South Sea 
course between the two nations must then Bubble - 
have been slow, for Law's scheme was already discredited 
and the French bubble had broken before the English 
bubble had reached its full dimensions. The mischief in 
England ran its course in a much shorter time, altogether 
about six months. The South Sea Company had been 
established some time previously; it had not as yet done 
much of its legitimate business, trading with the Spanish 
coasts of America — indeed, it may be added that to this 
it never did attend. But it was a powerful corporation, 
and was considered the rival of the Bank of England. 
A proposal came from the company that it should buy 
up the National Debt. It was universally thought that 
the South Sea Company would be very successful in its 
trading ventures, and that the profits would enable it in 
some strange way to extinguish the debt. In the month 



56 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 17 19 

of April a bill was passed through both Houses of Parlia- 
ment, giving all the powers required. There was more 
opposition in the Lords than in the Commons ; in the 
latter the bill had been proposed by the Chancellor of 
the Exchequer. On the passing of the act South Sea 
stock rose from 130 to 1,000. 

This example proved very contagious, and a great 
Minor many companies were started, some for the 
bubbles. m0 st ludicrous objects. Historians have given 
lists of these objects, and it is worth while to mention 
some in order to show the lengths to which human folly 
will sometimes go. Companies were to be established 
with the following objects : — 

Wrecks to be fished for on the Irish coast. 

To make salt water fresh. 

For extracting silver from lead. 

For transmuting quicksilver into a malleable metal. 

For importing a number of large jackasses from Spain. 

For trading in human hair. 

A wheel for perpetual motion. 

The most extravagant proposal of all was for an ' under- 
taking which hereafter shall be revealed.' Each subscriber 
was to pay two guineas. It is said that 1,000 subscribed 
in a single morning, and then the projector decamped. 
This last story, inconceivable at any ordinary time, shows 
the excited state of mind of the many gamblers. 

The fall was even more prompt in London than in 
Paris. A great many families were reduced to beggary. 
General Walpole, who had not been in office when the 
crash. South Sea Act was passed, but as a member 
had opposed it, and who had already earned a reputation 
as a financier, was called to office. He became prime 
minister and chancellor of the exchequer, and by the 
measures that he took restored public confidence. 

The difference between the English and the French 



a.d. 1720 Law and the South Sea Bubble. 57 

crash may be shortly summed up. In France there was 
only one vortex; the bank and the Mississippi 
company had united. In England the Bank 
of England always remained a rival and hostile company, 
so that there was an established corporation to which to 
turn when the crash came. Moreover, in England, there 
were a great many little bubbles round about the big 
bubble. Though many individuals lost largely in their 
speculations, the nation, as a nation, did not suffer to 
the same extent as in France. Periods of rash and wild 
speculation are not uncommon in modern history, but the 
time of Law and of the South Sea Bubble is the worst 
on record. 

The shock to public morality which this period ot 
speculation produced was greater in France than in 
England. In the condition of the latter there Low state of 
was no ground for boasting. Religion was morallt y- 
never at a lower ebb ; the political world was almost 
hopelessly corrupt. But in France it seemed as if all 
decency was lost. It was a time of shameless and open 
profligacy, the Regent himself setting the example. It 
is pleasant, however, to be able to mention a conspicuous 
instance of goodness. 

In the year 1720, a plague broke out in the town of 
Marseilles and throughout Provence, which carried off 
no fewer than 85,000 persons. The horror piague at 
with which the news was received throughout Marsellles - 
France was to some extent mitigated by the admirable 
devotion of the Bishop of Marseilles, and of certain 
others who followed his example. A thousand times did 
he risk his life in helping the smitten, and yet he escaped 
unhurt. The account of this suggested the problem pro- 
pounded in the famous couplet of Pope — 

Why drew Marseilles' good bishop purer breath, 
When nature sickened, and each gale was death ? 



5 8 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1721 



CHAPTER IX. 

SIR ROBERT WALPOLE. 

Robert Walpole, thus called to high office in the 
nation's need, was the third son of a country gentleman, 
born at his father's place, Houghton, in Norfolk. He 
was educated at Eton and afterwards at King's College, 
Cambridge, but beyond a few quotations from Horace 
not much of his learning clung to him. Both his brothers 
died before he was twenty-two, and his father when he 
was twenty-four, at which age, in the year 1700, he was 
returned to Parliament for a small family borough. From 
the first a zealous Whig, Walpole soon showed his value 
to his party and was rewarded with office. He was made 
secretary of war, and later treasurer of the navy. When, 
after Sacheverell's trial, the Whigs went out of office, Wal- 
pole, who had been one of the managers in that trial, though 
he felt the policy of it to be mistaken, retired with his 
party, and the victorious Tories carried a resolution that he 
had been ' guilty of breach of trust and notorious corrup- 
tion.' Walpole was even sent to the Tower and kept there 
for a few months. But such manifest party action only- 
helped him, and when the Whigs were restored to power, 
on the accession of the new king, Walpole was made 
paymaster of the forces, and afterwards chancellor of the 
exchequer. Differing, however, from his colleagues, he 
resigned, and remained in opposition until just before the 
bursting of the South Sea Bubble, when he returned to 
office. Fortunately he had no more share in the South 
Sea scheme than to have speculated for himself, and with 
wise prescience to have sold out in time. The public, 
therefore, looked to him, and his success in devising 
healing measures after the disaster, together with his 



a. d. 1 72 1 Sir Robert Walpole. 59 

great skill in finance, made him first lord of the treasury 
as well as chancellor of the exchequer. 

Sir Robert Walpole was chief minister of England 
for no less than twenty-one years. A knowledge of 
his character would hardly have led anyone sir Robert 
beforehand to expect that he would have en- Walpole. 
joyed so long a tenure of power. He seemed to be a 
hearty, goodnatured, country squire, very fond of country 
pursuits, especially of all kinds of sport. The House of 
Commons very rarely does any work upon a Saturday, 
and a former Speaker of the House attributed this Satur- 
day holiday to Walpole's love of hunting. Walpole was 
not a leader of the people calculated to rouse enthusiasm 
for himself. Indeed, he did not believe in enthusiasm, 
and did not covet popularity. He did not want people's 
love ; he wanted the votes of members. In order to excite 
enthusiasm and love amongst the people at large, a states- 
man must have some of the qualities that dazzle, such as 
the gifts of oratory, or he must initiate and carry out 
great changes and reforms, or must bring a nation suc- 
cessfully through a great war. W T alpole was no orator, 
but a common-sense business speaker ; he hated change, 
and he hated the very idea of war. But history is bound 
to do justice to a statesman, even if his contemporaries 
did not love him, and to remember both what is seen and 
what is not seen. Walpole deserves every credit for 
steering England clear from dangers which threatened, 
and for giving to an exhausted country a period of much 
needed rest. A reforming minister, eager for great 
changes, would not have been of advantage to the country 
at that particular time. The succession was disputed, 
the new dynasty was in itself unpopular, and great politi- 
cal dissensions might have given a handle to the Jacobites 
and have plunged the country into the horrors of civil 
war. Qirieta 11011 movere, Walpole's favourite maxim, 



60 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1721 

which may be translated by the equivalent maxim of a 
modern statesman, ' Why can you not let it alone ? ' is 
not a high-souled motto, but there are times when it is 
wise. Even when Walpole agreed with a reform, he pre- 
ferred to let it alone. He was in favour of toleration of 
dissenters, and the dissenters were supporters of his 
policy. Whenever measures of toleration were pressed 
upon him, he would declare his sympathy, but urge that 
the time had not arrived. The time, it may be added, 
never did arrive. 

Walpole was a goodhumoured, easy-going man, 
though, doubtless, too fond of making things smooth. 
The love of peace, mentioned by his bio- 
grapher as the uniform principle of his ad- 
ministration, was shown in the determination to keep 
England free from Continental wars, as well as in the 
desire for political peace at home. ' Fifty thousand men 
slain in Europe this year and not one Englishman 5 was 
once his proud boast, and a nation weary of fighting other 
people's battles was glad of the rest. When, later, the 
nation was ready for war and drove Walpole into it, he 
felt himself out of place, and was unhappy accordingly. 
It would have been better for his reputation had he re- 
signed office rather than declare war. Walpole's own 
character and personal inclinations to a remarkable extent 
decided the policy of England. It is noteworthy how in 
them he differed both from the past and from the future 
of the Whig party to which he belonged. From the Revo- 
lution onwards — that is, almost since the formation of the 
party — the Whigs had been in favour of a vigorous Con- 
tinental policy of war with France. This w r as partly to a 
blind following of William III., partly to the fact that 
France was regarded as the main friend of the Stuarts. 
Amongst modern politicians the party of reform traces 
its traditional descent from the Whigs, so that Walpole, 



a. d. 1 72 1 Sir Robert Walpole. 61 

as a party leader, ranks as a predecessor of Lord John 
Russell. As a peace minister he would receive the ad- 
miration of many modern Liberals. 

Walpole's constant goodnature was shown in his cle- 
mency and moderation towards opponents. The need 
of making an example would have driven many ministers 
into severer measures against the Jacobites, constantly 
engaged in small plots, which might develop into danger. 
Walpole studiously avoided severity, and winked at their 
plottings rather than punish them. No minister was 
ever more attacked by libels ; none was more slow to 
prosecute. 

The gravest charge against Walpole is that he made 
systematic use of corruption and bribery. ' Every man 
has his price,' is the saying usually attributed 
to him. It has been proved that this is not 
exactly what he said. Speaking of a group of members, 
he once said, ' Each of these men has his price.' There 
is no doubt whatever that Walpole systematically bought 
the votes of members, using what is known as the secret 
service money for the purpose. Modern writers have 
defended Walpole upon different grounds. For instance, 
it is more honest and not morally worse to buy political 
support with money than with promises of appointments. 
Corruption was the fault of the age, and it is unfair to 
judge any man without regarding the morality of his time. 
There is no doubt that the secrecy with which parlia- 
mentary proceedings were conducted was very helpful 
to this corruption. Bribery has many forms. In Wal- 
pole's time it took the form of buying the votes of 
members, in a later time of buying the votes of constitu- 
ents. In either shape it is equally wrong, equally hurtful 
to the best interests of the nation. In so far as Walpole 
fostered this vice, he did harm to the morals of the 
country. Had he desired, he might have led public 



62 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1722 

opinion to greater political purity, but probably such a 
thought never even entered his head. 

Walpole's attitude towards purity and political en- 
thusiasm was almost more hurtful of public morality. 
He was always sneering at the enthusiasm of young 
members, deliberately setting himself to laugh at their 
standard, if higher than his own. A young man would 
be elected to the House, full of patriotism, full of desire 
to do good, untainted by corruption. Walpole would 
call him an ancient Roman, and assure him that he would 
soon ' come off that.' It was he who gave the nickname 
of ' the boys ' to a small cluster of these young enthusiasts, 
one of whom, William Pitt, a young cornet of horse, 
never ' came off that,' remained untouched by the bribery 
and corruption, and, in the generation after Walpole, 
raised the morality of the whole English nation by the 
example he set of disinterestedness in politics and of 
earnest patriotism. 

Walpole's strongest point as a statesman was his 

finance. In this respect he was not only far superior to 

his contemporaries, but it is necessary to go for- 

Financier. 

ward a century to find his equal. The financial 
measures that Walpole took to restore public confidence 
after the South Sea Bubble formed the firm basis of his 
long tenure of power. It will be remembered that one 
of the chief inducements for Parliament to accept the 
bill was that the South Sea Company meant to reduce, 
if not extinguish, the National Debt. When first the 
nation incurred a large debt, shrewd financiers, as well 
as people who knew nothing of finance, were alarmed at 
its existence, and still more alarmed as the amount of it 
grew. In our own time the debt is so much larger, and 
has lasted so long without disastrous results, that we are 
more inclined to commit the opposite fault, and think 
too little of the debt. The growth or diminution of the 



a.d. 1723 Sir Robert Walpole. 63 

National Debt is a sure indication of the history of the 
nation. If a table were made showing the state of the 
Debt in each year during the eighteenth cen- Nat - lonal 
tury, it would be easy to infer from the table Debt, 
whether England was in any given year at war or peace. 
Increasing debt meant war, and during the latter part of 
the century the increase in some years was enormous. 
Decreasing debt meant peace. Under Walpole — let it be 
remembered to his honour — the debt decreased. It is true 
that the decrease is never on so rapid a scale as the 
increase. It has been pointed out that it is the peculiar 
honour of the reign of George I. that in it the National 
Debt grew smaller ; whereas, in the reigns of his imme- 
diate predecessors and successors, the debt increased, and 
even in an increasing ratio. It must be added that the 
decrease is due to the policy of Walpole, and that he 
deserves the credit of it. Nothing more clearly marks 
the true character of his policy than the statement that 
in seventeen years, dating from January 1, 1723, 8 mil- 
lions of the debt were paid off. 

Millions 

At accession of George 1 541 

When the South Sea trouble was over . 55^ 
At end of 1739, practical close of Walpole's 

financial policy . ... 47 

In 1748, peace of Aix-la-Chapelle . . yj 

In 1755, reduced to 72^ 

In 1763, end of Seven Years' War . . 139 

Neither a nation nor an individual should be guided 
in the choice of a course to be pursued solely by money 
considerations ; but as we blame an individual who rashly 
incurs debt, we may, to some extent, estimate the policy 
of a minister by his care of the public purse. Although 
this amount of debt was paid off during the peace, and 
though we praise Walpole for having done so much, 



64 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1723 

complaint has been made that he did not effect more. 
At least two eminent men have complained that the 
debt was not paid off altogether, — Adam Smith, in the 
' Wealth of Nations, 5 and the younger Pitt. 

Not only did Walpole look after the principal, but, 

by skilful management, he reduced the burden of the 

charges, and this in a much greater proportion. 

Interest. . . 

The growing prosperity of England made 
money more abundant, and when an article is more 
abundant it becomes cheaper. Walpole took advantage 
of this to reduce the rate of interest on the National 
Debt. This he effected before he had done much with 
the principal. A few figures will make his success clear* 
In round numbers, the debt at the accession of George I, 
was 54 millions, and cost 3,350,000/. ; at his death it was 
52 millions, and cost 2,220,000/. 

With respect to the reduction of the Debt, W T alpole 
was in favour of what is known as a sinking fund. 
Sinking This meant that a sum of money should be set 
Fund. aside every year, so that a fund would grow, by 
compound interest and by annual increments, until it was 
large enough to extinguish the debt. The objections to 
this plan, though it afterwards received the support of the 
younger Pitt, are twofold. It is cumbrous and indirect,, 
for there is no reason why the money should not be applied 
directly each year to the reduction of debt. Also this 
fund would present each year a temptation to the chan- 
cellor of the exchequer if he had any difficulty in pro- 
viding money from other sources. This sinking fund 
Walpole established, but he himself was not proof against 
the temptation indicated. 

It seems to be using the language of a different period 

to speak of Walpole as in favour of free trade, 

but he abolished a great many duties both 

on imports and exports. Above everything he was very 



a.d. 1724 Sir Robert Walpole. 65 

careful of the public money, except in the single matter 
of payment for parliamentary support. In secret-service 
money he was lavish. Whilst Walpole was in power the 
wealth of the country increased to a very marked extent, 
wise financial measures co-operating with peace to pro- 
duce this result. 

In connection with a financial question, a very curious 
disturbance arose in Ireland towards the close of the 
reign of George I. There had been a scarcity Wood' 
of copper money, and in the exercise of the Pence. 
Icing's prerogative a patent was granted to a Birmingham 
ironmaster of the name of Wood to coin a large quantity 
of such money. The patent was correctly drawn, the 
granting of it undoubtedly lay within the prerogative of 
the King. The officers of the Mint had tested the coin, 
and the Master of the Mint was no less a man than Sir 
Isaac Newton. For some reasons never clearly explained, 
a feeling at once arose in Ireland against the new money. 
Probably it was because Wood, a Birmingham speculator, 
and in himself a man of unpleasant, swaggering man- 
ners, was an Englishman. This feeling was shared and 
expressed by the Irish Parliament, which had never been 
consulted in the matter ; but then it must be remembered 
that had a similar patent been granted in England, 
it would not have been submitted to the Parliament 
at Westminster. The feeling would in all probability 
have died away had it not been for the part played by 
Dean Swift, who had been living almost in retirement 
in Dublin since the death of Queen Anne and the ejec- 
tion of the Tories had destroyed his hopes of promotion. 
He wrote a series of seven letters, signed M. B. Drapier, 
in which he pretended to be an unlettered tradesman, 
abusing the money and all who were concerned in the 
patent, saving the King's Majesty. 

The Lord-Lieutenant strongly advised the ministers 
M. H. f 



66 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1724 

to yield, and Walpole knew how to yield with grace. 
The patent was withdrawn, and Swift became the idol of 
the Irish people. Never had a literary man such a 
triumph, for through the power of his pen the worse cause 
prevailed. 



CHAPTER X. 

ATTERBURY AND BOLINGBROKE. 

The ablest man amongst the Jacobites who remained in 
England was Bishop Atterbury. He was born shortly 
after the Restoration, and the spirit of that 
ury " period seemed to have entered into his blood. 
Educated at Westminster under the famous Dr. Busby 
and then at Christ Church, Oxford, he became a High 
Churchman and a Jacobite at a time when Oxford was 
the centre of the most extreme Jacobitism. Atterbury 
was one of the chief of a band of Christ Church scholars 
who were very thoroughly worsted in the famous Boyle 
and Bentley controversy, which, beginning with the ques- 
tion whether the ancients were superior to the moderns., 
branched off into a dispute about a book which Boyle 
edited as a classical work and Bentley proved to be a 
modern forgery. The Hon. Mr. Boyle was put forward 
as the nominal champion upon the Oxford side, but his 
weapons were believed to have been prepared chiefly by 
Atterbury, then Dean of Christ Church. 

The reign of Queen Anne was a pleasant time for a 
High Church Tory like Atterbury, and he rose rapidly, 
held several deaneries in succession, until near the end 
of the reign he was made Bishop of Rochester, whilst he 
still held the office of Dean of Westminster. 

More of a wit than a divine, Atterbury was an eloquent 



a. d. 1724 Atterbury and Bolingbroke. 67 

and graceful preacher, and he made a great impression 
on the House of Lords by his powerful speeches. Always 
ready for controversy, he was too much of a partisan, 
too much of a politician, to be a good bishop. Had he 
not been in orders, his talents would have brought him 
to the front rank of statesmen. But he would have been 
more distinguished for his zeal and courage than for his 
wisdom. Atterbury was the bishop who on the death of 
Queen Anne offered, if he could procure a sufficient guard, 
himself in his lawn-sleeves at Charing Cross, to proclaim 
her brother as King. When the ministers, though friendly, 
declined his offer, he is reported to have exclaimed with 
an unepiscopal oath that the finest cause in Europe had 
been lost through want of spirit. When George I. came, 
Atterbury took the oaths to him, but all the while re- 
mained Jacobite at heart. No oaths could prevent him 
from engaging in correspondence with the Pretender. 
In 1722 proof was discovered of this, and he was com- 
mitted to the Tower, where he was treated to great severity. 
In spite of a very eloquent defence, a bill of pains and 
penalties was passed against him. He was deprived of 
his bishopric and sent into exile. A bill of pains and 
penalties is not a just measure, for it makes Parliament 
into a law court instead of a legislature. If Atterbury had 
broken the laws, and there was sufficient evidence to con- 
vict him, he should have been tried in an ordinary court. 
Many thought that the evidence was insufficient, but it 
has since been fully proved by the publication of Jacobite 
letters that Atterbury was all the while engaged in 
treasonable correspondence. Bishop Atterbury was one 
of the poet Pope's most intimate friends. Indeed in 
the world of letters he may be said only to have a place 
on account of the literary counsel that he gave to the 
poet. 

Curiously enough, while Atterbury was in Calais on 



68 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1724 

his way to exile, another even more brilliant sharer of 
his views chanced to be in the same town, 
brake's re- returning from exile to England. Both of 
turn. them were friends of literature, notably, both 

of them intimate with the poet Pope, who remarked, 
* This nation cannot regain one great genius but at the 
expense of another.' But Atterbury had yet to taste the 
bitterness of the cup of the ingratitude of princes ; 
Bolingbroke had drunk it to the full. After the failure 
of the attempt in the Fifteen, which was undertaken 
contrary to Bolingbroke's advice, James had dismissed 
Bolingbroke from his service without assigning a reason 
and with a certain amount of contumely. From the 
time of that dismissal, filled with a bitter contempt for 
the Prince, Bolingbroke worked hard to bring about his 
own restoration to England ; but for seven long years his 
efforts were unavailing. At length, it is said, through 
bribing the King's mistress, Bolingbroke obtained a 
pardon, which enabled him to return to England with 
his person secure. Two years later his estates were 
restored to him by an Act of Parliament reversing to 
that extent the act of attainder. He was then, according 
to his own expression, ' two-thirds restored, my person 
safe, and my estate with all the other property I have 
acquired secured to me ; ' but his seat in the House of 
Lords he was never able to regain. He professed to 
have retired in disgust from public life, but his pen was 
always at the disposal of the Tory party, which he con- 
stantly strove to rescue from the imputation of being 
entirely Jacobite. Bolingbroke would most gladly have 
taken office under the House of Hanover if he could 
have returned to politics, and been accepted as the 
leader of the disorganised Tories. During his en- 
forced retirement from political life, Bolingbroke lived on 
terms of the greatest intimacy with Pope, who calls him 



a.d. 1724 Atterbury and Bolingbroke. 69 

his ' guide, philosopher, and friend.' It is even said that 
Bolingbroke supplied the ideas of the ' Essay on Man.' 
The fallen statesman took a house near Pope's villa 
at Twickenham. Little wonder that the poet proudly 
boasts — 

There my retreat the best companions grace, 
Chiefs out of war, and statesmen out of place : 
There St. John mingles with my friendly bowl 
The feast of reason and the flow of soul. 

When Lord Bolingbroke found that he could not 
obtain the reversal of his attainder, literature gained the 
energy that would otherwise have been de- His 
voted to politics. Pamphlets he could always writings, 
write, and those that he published were bitter against 
Walpole. Bolingbroke's most important writings are the 
' Idea of a Patriot King ' and ' Letters on the Study and 
Use of History.' Of his compositions it may be said that 
the language is always beautiful, whilst through the matter 
there often appears an air of insincerity. His idea of a 
patriot king is opposed to the idea of constitutional 
monarchy. He maintained that the king should himself 
govern, and not the ministers. A king ought to set him- 
self entirely above party, and be at liberty to choose 
his ministers, irrespective of the party to which they 
belonged. It was easy for Bolingbroke to rail against 
party spirit ; he had tried it, and knew its hollowness. 
The book, however, may be considered as having done 
some mischief because of the influence which it exercised 
on the mind of George III. Imbued with Bolingbroke's 
ideas, he made the attempt to be a king and above party, 
and the results of his interference with constitutional 
principles were not of such a character as to lead to its 
repetition. 



yo The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1725 

CHAPTER XI 

NEARLY A EUROPEAN WAR. 

In the last two years of the reign of George I., in spite 
of the King's and Walpole's pacific wishes, there was an 
s aIn imminent prospect of a great European war. 
Ripperda. in the first place, the ambitious Queen of 
Spain was still trying to secure the duchies of Parma 
and Piacenza for her son, Don Carlos. Alberoni had 
helped her in this project \ but Alberoni was gone, and 
the duchies not secured. Her new minister was Rip- 
perda, a Dutch adventurer, who had been secretary to 
a Dutch embassy in Spain, but had left it to obtain 
advancement at the Spanish Court. He represented to 
the Queen (it is characteristic that it is the Queen, and 
not the King of Spain who seems to have all the power) 
that if he were sent on a secret mission to Vienna he 
could induce the Emperor to come into close relations 
with Spain. 

Whilst Ripperda's mission was still incomplete, the 
French Court insulted the Spanish. Some four years 
The Spanish ear li er it h R d been agreed that the young 
princess. French King, Lewis XV., should marry a 
Spanish princess. The Infanta was then only four years 
old, and she was sent to France in order that she might 
receive French education and training, The Regent, 
the Duke of Orleans, stood next in succession to the 
throne, and he was not unwilling that the King's mar- 
riage should be postponed until the young princess grew 
up. But the Duke of Orleans died of an illness brought 
on by his debauchery, and his successors in power 
thought it much better that the King should marry at 
once. The Spanish Infanta was therefore sent back to 



a.d. 1725 Nearly a European War. ji 

Spain with very scant courtesy. The greatest indigna- 
tion was very naturally felt amongst the proud Spaniards, 
and the Queen is reported to have said to the French 
ambassador, ' All these Bourbons are a race of devils — 
except your Majesty,' she added, turning to the King, 
reflecting that he was himself a Bourbon. In such a state 
of feeling Ripperda's plan was carried out, and an alliance 
formed between the two old opponents, the King of Spain 
and the Emperor. 

Both the English and the Dutch were very angry, 
because the Emperor had given a charter to an Ostend 
East India Company to trade with India, and Ostend 
try to wrest some of the trade from those two Company, 
nations. The English and Dutch Governments pleaded 
that the establishment of this company was contrary to 
treaty, and threatened to seize the company's ships. Spain, 
united by Ripperda to the Emperor, recognised the Ostend 
Company. It may be here added that the trade of this 
company never rose to importance. 

But there was a further understanding between Spain 
and the Emperor. It was proposed that Don Carlos 
should marry Maria Theresa, the Emperor's A 

J . Appanage 

elder daughter, and have the Italian duchies for Don 
Parma and Piacenza so that Austria's power 
should be strengthened in Italy. Russia also joined the 
alliance of Spain and the Emperor. 

Against this, therefore, it was held necessary to 
establish a counter league. England, France, and 
Prussia made together an alliance called the Treaty of 
Hanover. Holland, Sweden, and Denmark afterwards 
joined. Prussia, under Frederick William, however, was 
shortly afterwards won over to the side of the Emperor. 
Troops were prepared on either side, and it seemed as if 
^var was imminent. 

Meanwhile the French ministers found a wife for 



72 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1725 

Lewis in the person of the daughter of Stanislaus 
Marriage of Leczynski, the dethroned King of Poland. 
Lewis xv. she is described as very amiable and gracious. 
The royal wedding was celebrated at Fontainebleau. The 
treaty of Hanover was signed, and this royal marriage 
took place in the same month, September 1725. It is 
said that the French ministers had at first wished that 
the bride should be an English princess. The King, it 
should be mentioned, was only fifteen. 

The expected war never came to much. On the part 
of England a fleet w r as sent, under Admiral Hosier, to 
blockade Porto Bello. But the admiral had 
strict orders from Walpole not to attack the 
place nor the Spanish ships unless they came out. It 
was generally thought in England that it would have 
been easy for Hosier's fleet to have captured Porto Bello, 
but the place was very unhealthy, and some three thousand 
English sailors died of fever. It was said that Hosier 
himself died of a broken heart. 

When in after years there was a desire to excite the 
English against Walpole and against Spain, a spirited 
ballad called 'Hosier's Ghost' was written by the poet 
Glover, of which the following is one verse : — 

I, by twenty sail attended, 

Did this Spanish town affright : 
Nothing then its wealth defended 

But my orders not to fight. 
Oh ! that in this rolling ocean 

I had cast them with disdain, 
And obeyed my heart's warm motion 

To have quelled the pride of Spain. 

The only other incident of the war, which may be 
Sieee of compared to a smouldering fire that never 
Gibraltar, quite breaks into flame, for war was never de- 
clared, was an attack by the Spaniards on Gibraltar ; but 



a. d. 1727 Death of George I . 73 

they utterly failed in their attempt to retake the place. 
Whilst the siege was continuing the Emperor deserted 
Spain, and Spain confessed a readiness to Treat f 
come to terms. The treaty of Seville was the Seville. 
consequence, in which the English and French agreed 
that the two Italian duchies should pass to Don Carlos. 

The chief minister of France, Cardinal Fleury, was a 
man as earnest on behalf of peace as Walpole. Though 
he was over seventy when made minister, he held 
power for a long time — seventeen years — and secured for 
France a tranquillity and time of rest which she much 
needed 



CHAPTER XII. 

DEATH OF GEORGE I. AND OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON. 

George I., long before he became King of England, 
married his cousin Sophia Dorothea of Zell, who is de- 
scribed as a young princess of great beauty. It Geor j , 
was a marriage of policy, made in order to join wife." 
her possessions to his. The wife was not kindly treated 
by her husband or her husband's family, so that she was 
tempted to receive the attentions of a Swedish nobleman, 
Count Konigsmark, who was staying in Hanover. One 
day, when he was leaving her apartment, he was attacked 
and killed. George was absent with the army, and not 
privy to the attack, but he was convinced of his wife's 
guilt, and after obtaining a divorce caused her to be shut 
up in the Castle of Ahlden, a castle in the midst of a 
desolate heath. The unhappy princess was never allowed 
to go out even for air and exercise without a guard of 
horse soldiers with drawn swords. She never ceased to 
assert her innocence, especially in a most solemn manner 



74 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1727 

every time that she was about to receive the holy commu- 
nion ; and many have been found to believe her assertion, 
but whether she was really guilty or innocent cannot be 
proved. For no less than thirty-two years the wretched 
woman lived in her desolate confinement, and died only a 
short time before her husband. Indeed, the story runs that 
just before she died she wrote a letter to the King, to be 
delivered after her death by a trusty hand, once more 
declaring her innocence, and citing him to appear within 
a year and a day before the throne of God. This letter 
could not safely be delivered in England, but was, so the 
story continues, given to the King on the next occasion 
that he came to Germany. 

Whether this summons had any effect on the King's 
mind or not, or whether, indeed, the whole story is not 
Death of an invention, the King's death followed that of 
George I. his wife within seven months, and took place 
immediately after his next return to Germany. Ap- 
parently in his usual health, King George was, according 
to his custom, travelling from England to his beloved 
Hanover. He had entered Germany, and was posting 
in his travelling carriage, when he was suddenly seized 
with a fit of apoplexy. The attendants proposed to stop 
and obtain medical assistance ; but the only remark 
that the dying King could utter was ' Osnabriick, Osna- 
briick ! ' so with all speed the horses galloped on. The 
Prince-Bishop of Osnabriick was the King's brother, and 
the King seemed to be anxious to see him once more. But 
before the carriage reached the town of Osnabriick, King 
George was dead. 

Earlier in the same year (1727) died Sir Isaac New- 
ton, the most eminent Englishman of his day, the most 
Sir Isaac distinguished mathematician and natural philo- 
Newton. SO p ner that the world has yet seen. He had 
attained a great age (eighty-four), for he was born near 



a. d. 1727 Death of Sir Isaac Newton. 75 

Grantham, in Lincolnshire, on Christmas Day 1642. He 
was educated at the grammar school at Grantham and 
afterwards at Trinity College, Cambridge, of which 
college he became a fellow. A remarkable genius for 
mathematics led him at the early age of twenty-three to 
make important discoveries about the movements of 
planets. Subsequently, and while filling the chair of 
Professor of Mathematics in the University of Cambridge, 
he discovered the prismatic colours of light, and esta- 
blished the law of gravitation, which accounts for the fall 
of an apple to the ground as well as for the equilibrium 
of the universe. The story that this law was suggested 
to Newton by the fall of an apple does not rest on 
good authority. Pope wrote an intended epitaph on 
Newton : — 

Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night : 
God said, ' Let Newton be,' and all was light. 

Sir Isaac Newton was a member of the Convention 
Parliament, which seated William III. on the throne, 
and was afterwards Master of the Mint. He was made 
President of the Royal Society, and a couple of years 
later was knighted by Queen Anne. Newton's most 
famous works are the 'Treatise on Optics' and the 
'Principia' (more fully 'Philosophise Naturalis Principia 
Mathematical, the doctrines of which were very quickly 
accepted by the learned. The character of Sir Isaac 
Newton is almost faultless. The worst charge brought 
against him is that at times he was querulous, and at 
others suspicions. His modesty, patience, benevolence, 
earnest patriotism, genuine simple piety are features far 
more easily recognised. 



j6 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1727 

CHAPTER XIII. 

GEORGE II. AND QUEEN CAROLINE. 

Both the first Georges were men of mature age when 
they came to the throne. George I. was fifty-four, George 
II. forty-four. The latter had been born in 
Hanover in 1683, had been brought up and 
educated, as any other German prince might have been, 
for he had no expectation of the crown of England as 
his inheritance, as he was nearly a man when the Act of 
Settlement was passed. Of course he was trained to be a 
soldier — all the German princes were. He had the special 
advantage of serving under the great D uke of Marlborough, 
and had distinguished himself for personal bravery at 
the battle of Oudenarde, where, perhaps, some English 
officers, with a thought for the future, turned their eyes 
towards the conduct of the Electoral Prince of Hanover. 
Some four years before the death of Queen Anne the 
Electoral Prince was made Duke of Cambridge, but the 
honour was titular only. The Queen, afraid lest in any 
way the spirit of worshipping the rising sun should 
spread, was very much opposed to the new duke's taking 
his seat in the House of Lords. On the accession of 
George I. his eldest son became Prince of Wales ; and by 
a strange fate, which seemed to affect the early Hano- 
verian kings, the son was always at variance with the 
father. 

The new King was in person short, and, like many 
short men, proud and touchy. The public called him 
' dapper,' a word which fits the description of 
and P chanu> him so well that one historian (Carlyle) always 
ten speaks of ' Dapper George.' He was also very 

precise, his notion of soldiering requiring a strict atten- 



a.d. 1729 George II. and Queen Caroline. J? 

tion to small details of drill and uniforms; whilst his 
mind always found room for minute questions of etiquette, 
for which he seems to have had the taste of a gentleman- 
usher. The Jacobite nickname for him was 'the Captain,' 
and he would certainly have made a better captain than 
general. There is no doubt about his bravery, nor 
about his love of justice and desire to do what was best 
for his kingdom and subjects. Though, as a matter of 
fact, during his reign the English were left to govern them- 
selves, and did not require much governing, George 
thought himself a heaven-born ruler. This feeling led 
him often to give free rein to the dictates of a violent 
temper, and sometimes to make himself very ridiculous. 

It is recorded that when he was a little boy he had a 
fight with his cousin Frederick William, afterwards his 
brother-in-law, the second King of Prussia, ^ , V1 _ 

' Duel with 

and father of Frederick the Great. The future King of 
King of Prussia was also of arbitrary and 
violent temper, but with more capacity, and, as an abso- 
lute monarch, with greater opportunities of using it. The 
two cousins had many instincts in common, such as the 
taste for trifles and details, especially when connected 
with soldiers ; but perhaps just on account of their simi- 
larity in tempers and tastes they hated each other 
savagely; and the boyish battle, in which Frederick 
William gave his cousin George a bloody nose, was in after 
life followed by a definite challenge to fight a duel. This 
was some two years after George II.'s accession, and the 
reason some mere trifle that diplomacy could not at once 
settle. Inflamed by long previous resentment, the King 
of Prussia was the challenger; and the ministers on 
either side had difficulty in preventing the ridiculous 
spectacle of the two Kings fencing with each other. 
They had nicknames for each other, which Carlyle thus 
translates : ' My brother, the Play Actor ' was the name 



j 8 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1727 

for the King of England in the mouth of his brother of 
Prussia ; ' Arch-Sandbox-Beadle of the Holy Roman 
Empire' was the retaliation. The one appeared all 
form and ceremony, the other a pedantic insister upon 
trifles. 

One curiously unkingly failing his Majesty had — 
avarice, and avarice not on the large scale such as 
might be worthier of a king. Henry VII. 
was said to suffer from avarice, but his was 
a careful husbanding of the kingdom's resources, espe- 
cially of treasure in its coffers, from the conviction that a 
kingdom with its coffers full is stronger than a kingdom 
with an empty treasury. But George's avarice was rather 
that of a petty tradesman shown in a desire to handle 
and count money. ' If,' said a bold lady of the court 
once to him, ' if you count your money once more, I will 
leave the room.' 

George I. could not speak English at all, and had to 
transact business with his English ministers, except with 
He spoke one who, contrary to the usual custom, had 
bad English. i earnt German, through the medium of in- 
different Latin. George II. had an advantage over his 
father in that he could speak English fluently, though, 
as courtiers remarked behind his back, not very gram- 
matically, and with a strong German accent. According 
to an eminent Lord Chamberlain of the period, the 
language of the court, of which he gives numerous speci- 
mens, consisted of French and broken English, helped 
out with an occasional word of German. 

The news of his father's death in Germany was 
brought to the new King by Sir Robert Walpole, the 
Prime Minister, whom the King hated, if for 
no other reason because he had been his 
father's Prime Minister. ' Dat is one big lie,' is re- 
ported to have been the new King's answer to the news. 



a.d. 1728 George II. and Queen Caroline. 79 

The death of a sovereign nowadays would not of neces- 
sity cause the change of a ministry, but George II. 
practically dismissed Walpole by naming another to 
draw up the declaration which is made on his accession 
by a new king. The politician selected, who was the 
Speaker of the House of Commons, was so incompetent 
that he asked assistance from the very man whom he 
was superseding. Walpole courteously rendered the 
assistance, and in a few days he was reinstated in office. 
In truth Walpole had a very powerful ally in the 
new Queen, who, far rather than the King, helped Walpole 
to govern England during the next ten years. Q ueen Car0 . 
Caroline of Anspach was probably the most line - 
remarkable queen consort in English history. Left an 
orphan and a portionless princess at an early age, she 
was brought up at the Court of Prussia ; but her beauty, 
her grace, and her mental gifts were such that many 
princes sought her hand in marriage. The Emperor 
himself was amongst her suitors, and it must be remem- 
bered to Caroline's credit, that she declined the honour 
solely because it would be necessary for her to change 
her religion. Possibly the suggestion would not even 
be made in the present day ; but then it was not every 
princess who would entertain so decided a religious 
scruple, for the wife that the Emperor succeeded in 
winning was a Protestant princess who went through 
the form of being converted in order to accept his 
offer. Caroline was both clever and wise. She could 
display sweet temper and be pleasant and agreeable 
to all around ; but also her tongue could give utter- 
ance to the sharpest sarcasms and bitterest invectives. 
Her father-in-law, the late king, had latterly no name 
for her but ' she-devil.' There was not full scope for 
Caroline to show wisdom until she became Queen Con- 
sort. Though before hostile to Walpole, she saw at once 



8o The Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1728 

that he alone was then suited to be Prime Minister, and, 
suppressing all feeling of personal resentment, hence- 
forward she became his friend and ally. The Queen 
combined a statesman's grasp of public questions with 
a woman's tact. By skilfully choosing opportunities and 
arguments she instilled notions into the King's mind in 
such a subtle way that he thought they were his own, and 
thus she was wont to govern the King without his knowing 
that he was being governed. So completely did the 
Queen possess the highest art — that of concealing art — 
that George would even boast that other kings had been 
ruled by their wives or favourites, whereas he was every 
inch a king. Yet the public had formed a truer estimate 
of the position. A ballad of the day runs : — 

You may strut, dapper George, but 'twill all be in vain ; 
We know 'tis Queen Caroline, not you, that reign — 
You govern no more than Don Philip of Spain. 
Then if you would have us fall down and adore you, 
Lock up your fat spouse, as your dad did before you. 

Against Queen Caroline's good qualities we must put 
the fact that her language, if witty, was often coarse and 
indelicate ; and, though it is some little excuse to say that 
the time was coarse, we should have expected Caroline, 
with her real superiority of mind, to have been better, 
not worse, than her age. So determined was she to 
govern the King that she displayed no jealousy whatever, 
even when he made love to other women. So invariable 
was her rule that no request made by the King was ever 
to be refused by her, that when she was suffering terrible 
agonies from gout in her feet she would dip her whole 
leg into cold water in order to go out and walk with him. 
This had the effect of driving the gout in, but at a great 
cost to her system ; and there is no doubt that the practice 
hastened her death. In such conduct there is some- 



a.d. 1736 George II. and Queen Caroline. 81 

thing heroic. Queen Caroline was a student of philo- 
sophy, and delighted in theological controversy. The 
ecclesiastical patronage in England was considerably 
influenced by her ; the promotion of Bishop Butler, the 
author of the ' Analogy,' stands to her credit. 

It is usual to speak contemptuously of George II., 
and especially of his indifference to literature and culture. 
It is only fair to remember that, acting upon xjniversit of 
the advice of his Hanoverian ministers, he was Gottingen. 
the founder of the University of Gottingen, which is pro- 
perly called after him ' Georgia Augusta.' For a long 
time Gottingen held the highest rank among the univer- 
sities of Germany, and though not now the first is still of 
considerable importance. The university was founded 
in order to prevent the Hanoverians going elsewhere for 
university education ; but to prevent the deadening in- 
fluence of the clergy those who drew up the scheme of 
the foundation determined to keep the appointment of all 
the professors in the hands of the Government. Abso- 
lute freedom was granted to professors in their lectures, 
and to students in their selection of courses. The 
ministers made it theirpride to secure the very best men 
for the chairs, and during the eighteenth century some 
of the most eminent writers in Germany, in each depart- 
ment of knowledge, were amongst the Gottingen pro- 
fessors. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE PORTEOUS RIOTS. 



In April 1736 there came an unexpected trouble in Scot- 
land, the story of which is well known, as it has 
been illuminated by the genius of Sir Walter 
Scott in his interesting novel, the ' Heart of Midlothian.' 
Jif. H. G 



82 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1736 

Two smugglers in Fife named Wilson and Robertson com- 
mitted robbery with violence on the collector of customs, 
and were in consequence sentenced to death. They nearly 
effected their escape from their prison in Edinburgh, but 
Wilson, who was a fat man, stuck fast in the hole that 
had been made between the bars. Sorry that he had not 
allowed his thinner friend to escape first, Wilson deter- 
mined to give him another chance, and when on the 
Sunday before the execution the prisoners were being 
escorted to church by four soldiers, Wilson seized three 
of them, whilst Robertson shook off the fourth and 
escaped. For this act Wilson was much admired, and 
a fear was entertained that an attempt would be made to 
rescue him on the day of execution. To prevent this 
the city magistrates therefore ordered the City Guard to 
attend the execution. Now the City Guard, a sort of 
military police, was under the command of a violent and 
unpopular officer, Captain Porteous. The execution was 
not disturbed, but when it was over there was some stone- 
throwing on the part of the mob at the hangman and at 
the soldiers. The soldiers became angry, and fired, with 
such effect that they wounded or killed a good many per- 
sons in the crowd and in the surrounding houses, many of 
whom were quite innocent of offence. For this Porteous 
was tried for murder. He denied having given the order 
to fire, but some witnesses swore that they had seen him 
take a musket from a private, and himself fire. An Edin- 
burgh jury found him guilty of murder. It happened 
that at the time King George II. was on the continent, 
and Queen Caroline was acting as regent. To the Queen 
and her ministers it did not seem that Captain Porteous 
was deserving of death, even though he had been mis- 
taken and exceeded the needs of legitimate defence. 
He was therefore reprieved. 

But the Edinburgh folk were made very angry at 



a.d. 1736 The Port eons Riots. S3 

this reprieve, and they determined to take the law into 
their own hands. On the evening of the day 
before that which had been appointed for his 
execution, Porteous was entertaining his friends in the 
Tolbooth, the Edinburgh prison. Meanwhile a mob was 
collecting. It attacked the guard-house and secured 
arms, then marched upon the Tolbooth. The magistrates 
tried to disperse them, but were unable ; the magistrates, 
however, received no harm. When the rioters reached 
the prison they battered the gate, and not breaking it 
down, at length set fire to it, until at last the gaoler 
flung them the keys. Whilst the other prisoners escaped, 
the rioters made solely for Porteous, whom they found 
hidden in the chimney of his room. They carried 
him to the usual place of execution, and there, having 
procured a rope from a shop (and left a guinea to pay for 
it), they hanged him from a barber's pole. Then they 
quietly dispersed. Though the strictest inquiry was 
made no one was ever convicted of a share in this riot. 
It was generally believed that those concerned as leaders 
in the act of vengeance were not of so humble a class in 
society as they appeared to be. But history knows no- 
thing of them. Queen Caroline was especially angry at 
the insult to her authority. The story goes that she said 
to a Scotch nobleman (Duke of Argyle) that rather than 
submit to such an insult she would make Scotland a 
* hunting-field.' ' In that case,' he replied with a low bow, 
c I will take my leave of your Majesty, and go down to 
my own country to get my hounds ready.' A bill was 
brought into Parliament to punish the city of Edinburgh 
in various ways, but the punishment was ultimately 
reduced to a fine to be paid to the widow of Captain 
Porteous. 



84 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1736 



CHAPTER XV. 
walpole's fall. 

Sir Robert Walpole's son wrote of his father that he 
' loved power so much that he would not endure a rival. 5 
It may be said that it was this very quality 
love of which led to his downfall. Those who might 
power. have been admitted into his ministry, and who 
would have brought strength to it, were refused admit- 
tance, and joined the opposition. Those who joined 
Walpole for a while were driven from him because he 
did not consult his colleagues, and even interfered with 
their work. Thus gradually the opposition grew strong. 
At the beginning of Walpole's long rule there was hardly 
any opposition at all. The enemies of the King's 
ministers were few, discredited, disorganised. The 
majority of the people in England were either in favour 
of Walpole's policy of peace abroad and doing nothing" 
{qiiieta non movere) at home, or indifferent to politics 
altogether. This state of the public mind may be said 
to have continued about two-thirds of Walpole's time. 
Then a formidable opposition began to gather, in which 
we can discern four separate elements — Jacobites and 
Tories, who may be regarded as the legitimate part of it, 
together with adherents of the Prince of Wales, and dis- 
contented Whigs for whom Walpole would find no room. 
The first battle which this opposition won was on 
the Excise Bill in 1733. Walpole was perfectly in the 
Excise Bill Y1 S^ m n ^ s proposal, which was to readjust the 
1733- duties upon tobacco and wine. This excise 

had been introduced into England by the Long Parliament 
just ninety years earlier, and it was borrowed by them 
from the Dutch. This origin of the scheme made it 
doubly hateful, and it certainly was very unpopular 



a.d. 1736 Walpole' s Fall. 85 

throughout England. Dr. Johnson, who published his 
' Dictionary ' some twenty years after this struggle, gave 
the following definition of excise : ' A hateful tax levied 
upon commodities, and adjudged not by the common 
judges of property, but wretches hired by those to whom 
excise is paid. 5 Every financier who has written upon the 
subject since has approved of Walpole's scheme; but the 
feeling throughout England, especially in London and 
the large towns, was so strong that Walpole bowed before 
the storm. Some think that the irritation might have 
led to a successful rebellion against the House of Bruns- 
wick. Though Walpole had a majority in the House he 
told his supporters that ' in the present inflamed temper 
of the people the act could not be carried into execution 
without an armed force,' and that ' he would not be the 
minister to enforce taxes at the expense of blood.' 

In 1735 there appeared in Parliament, amidst the 
party at which Walpole scoffed as the Boy Patriots, a 
new member named William Pitt, who was then William 
twenty-seven, and held a commission in the pitt - 
Horseguard Blues. His grandfather had been Governor 
of Madras, and had acquired fame of a certain kind, 
because in India he had purchased the largest diamond 
then known, which he had afterwards sold at an enor- 
mous profit to the Regent for the King of France. 
Young Pitt had been educated at Eton, thence had gone 
to Oxford, but had to leave Oxford suffering from the 
gout, which plagued him at intervals all his life through. 
For the good of his health Pitt travelled through France 
and Italy, and on his return to England took his commis- 
sion in the Blues, and shortly afterwards entered Parlia- 
ment as one of the members for Old Sarum. This was 
one of the ' pocket boroughs ' abolished by the Great 
Reform Bill, and may indeed be described as the one 
most frequently attacked, and the greatest scandal of the 



86 The Early Hauove7'ia?is. a.d. 1737 

old system ; for at the time of the Reform Bill there was 
not a single resident in Old Sarum, and the two members 
were elected by a single property holder. This property 
had been bought by Pitt's grandfather. 

Pitt is described as tall and manly, very dignified,, 
w r ith a keen eye, and a wonderful voice. This was full 
, . , and clear, audible in a whisper, and when 

Pitt s ap- Jr 

pearanceand raised filling the House with the volume of 
eloquence. -^ soun( j # ^11 accounts of his oratory agree 
that it was marvellous and carried away all hearers. No 
doubt he was much stronger in invective and sarcasm 
than in reasoning. His studied speeches were not con- 
sidered equal to his spontaneous efforts. 

After Pitt's maiden speech Walpole is said to have 
remarked, ' We must muzzle that terrible cornet of horse. 5. 
The first muzzle tried was an offer to help Pitt to pro- 
motion if he would retire from Parliament ; the second 
was his dismissal from the army. But Walpole had at last 
found a man neither to be bribed nor daunted. Some years 
afterwards the old Duchess of Marlborough, in admiration 
of his political conduct, left Pitt a legacy of 10,000/. 

It is characteristic that his dismissal by the King and 

his minister was the signal for Pitt's appointment to a 

place in the household of the Prince of Whales. 

Frederick 

Prince of ' Until our own day it has been said that each 
Wales. Prince of Wales in turn has been in opposi- 
tion. George II. opposed his father, and perhaps it was 
but natural that his son should oppose him. Frederick;, 
Prince of Wales, hated his parents as much as they 
hated him. Nothing could be stronger than the language 
employed about him by his mother. ' My dear Lord,' 
wrote Queen Caroline, in no measured terms, ' I will give 
it you under my hand if you are in any fear of my re- 
lapsing, that my dear first-born is the greatest ass, and the 
greatest liar, and the greatest canaille, and the greatest 



a.d. 1742 Walpole's Fall. 87 

beast in the whole world, and that I heartily wish he was 
out of it.' This is violent language, especially from a 
mother. But the spirit of it was perhaps justified. It 
was merely to irritate the King, and not from any political 
views, that the Prince of Wales made his court the 
centre of opposition to Walpole as the King's minister. 

At the end of 1737 Walpole lost his best friend by the 
death of this very Queen Caroline. On her death-bed, 
amidst much good advice that she gave her Death of the 
husband, she strongly recommended him to Queen, 
support Walpole. She had herself been a friend to 
Walpole's administration from the beginning of the reign. 
In her faults as well as in her virtues there was a simi- 
larity between the minister and the Queen — an element 
of coarseness, a cynical contempt for others, together with 
a resolute determination to maintain peace and to govern 
wisely and humanely. In the years that were coming 
King George had reason to regret his wife. 

Walpole at length succumbed to the united attacks of 
the opposition. The particular question was the war with 
Spain, the causes of which and of the wider con- 
tinental war are described in detail a little later resignation, 
in this volume. The greatest mistake of Wal- ^ an> I742 
pole's life was yielding to the clamour, and declaring war. 
It is doubtful if this yielding even postponed his down- 
fall. He fought gallantly to the last, his love of power 
inspiring him ; but when a general election placed him 
in a minority in the House of Commons, and his friends 
urged him to retire, he tendered his resignation to the 
King. It is said that the King was so much moved on 
accepting the resignation that he fell on Walpole's neck, 
wept, and kissed him. This was in January 1742. 

Walpole accepted a pension of 4,000/. a year and a 
peerage. As Earl of Orford he lived yet three years 
amid the country pleasures that he loved so well. 



88 The Early Hanoverians. 1699 



BOOK II. 

THE WARS. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE TURKS. 

Section I. — First War. 
The period of which this volume treats may be said 
almost to open with a war, though little notice of it is taken 
Turks in m our histories as a war in which England 
Europe, had no part. Not only in our own day has 
there been an Eastern Question. The Turks were 
always regarded by our ancestors as intruders in Europe. 
It is a little more than 500 years since they first appeared, 
and we now seem reconciled to their presence. During 
this long period there have been great fluctuations in 
their power. But on the whole we may say that, up to 
the seventeenth century, their power was advancing ; from 
that period it has been receding. We may select as the 
culminating point of their power their famous siege of 
Vienna in 1683. Their boundary line was then not more 
than a hundred miles from Vienna, the imperial city. 

John Sobieski, the King of Poland, an old opponent 

of the Turks, came to the rescue of the Emperor. With 

. a tremendous charge he overthrew the Turks 

and put them to headlong flight. All their 

belongings fell into his hands. It is no wonder that the 

people of Vienna were prepared almost to worship their 

Prince deliverer. In the imperial army, which under 

Eugene. Sobieski thus won the day, was a young officer 

of the age of twenty, a cadet of the House of Savoy, who 



-1718 The Turks. 89 

in that war was serving his first campaign. Prince 
Eugene was amongst the first to carve his way through 
the serried ranks of the Turks. A great part of a life 
spent in fighting was to be devoted to fighting against 
them. During the fourteen years that followed the 
deliverance of Vienna the war with Turkey continued, 
until Eugene himself, finally defeating them in the 
great battle of Zenta, was able to put an end to the war 
by the treaty of Carlowitz, which freed Hungary entirely 
from the Turks with the exception of the Bannat of 
Temeswar. It is said that Lewis XIV. had instigated 
the Turks to invade Austria. At any rate, by the cessa- 
tion of the war the Emperor was free to take his part in 
the War of the Spanish Succession, in which Eugene, 
who in the Turkish War had made himself the first 
general of the empire, continued to win laurels. No 
sooner had the peace of Utrecht finished that war than 
the Turkish War broke out again. 

Whilst the Turks were still staggering under the 
blow dealt them at Vienna, it was promptly followed by 
another from the republic of Venice. Venice Venice and 
once had such dominion over the lands be- the Turks. 
yond the Adriatic and in the Levant that it seems hardly 
exaggeration in the poet Wordsworth to say that she 
had ' held the gorgeous East in fee.' In the year that 
followed the deliverance of Vienna the Venetians con- 
quered the Morea from the Turks. For the Greek 
inhabitants this was not freedom, but a change of 
masters ; it was, however, a change from Turk to 
Christian. 

The treaty of Carlowitz was made under the media- 
tion of England and Holland, these two powers 

Peace of 

wanting the hands of the empire to be free, carlowitz, 
By their law the Turks were not allowed to J an ' lt% ' 
make peace with any Christian power; they could only 



90 The Early Hanoverians. 1699 

make truces, and this truce was for twenty-five years 
But, peace or truce, the Turks had to acknowledge that 
Hungary belonged to Austria and the Morea to Venice. 
Meanwhile the Turks had also been at war with Russia, 
but had not been successful, so that a year or two later 
on, making truce with Russia, they left her Azof — now, 
indeed, an unimportant town, with its harbour silted up, 
but valued by Peter the Great for Russia as giving her 
access to the Black Sea. 

It is necessary to remember these earlier facts in 

order to understand the war that broke out immediately 

after the peace of Utrecht. Fifteen years 

War against 1 __■,., 

Turks after had passed since the treaty of Carlowitz ; the 
Utrecht. Turks had been gathering strength, and were 
prepared to renew the conflict. They began with Russia, 
and succeeded in winning back Azof. This success they 
followed up with the reconquest of the Morea from Venice, 
whereupon the Emperor determined to join Venice in 
resisting their further advance ; and the sword of Eugene, 
which the treaties of Utrecht and Rastadt had set free, 
was employed once more against the Turks. 

The first great battle took place at Peterwaradin. 
Eugene's troops were mostly veteran soldiers with long 
Battle of Pe- experience in fighting in the Netherlands and 
terwaradin. elsewhere. In his earlier wars against the 
Turks he had reason to complain of the bad treatment 
of his troops by the Government, the lack of money, the 
lack of provisions ; but now his army was splendidly 
appointed. As compared with the force of the Turks it 
was small — not in larger proportion than one to three. 
Eugene was advised by his officers to make up for his 
small numbers by putting his men behind fortifications ; 
but he had too much confidence in his soldiers, and they 
in him, to waste time in that way, Eugene has been 
described as like a fury in the day of battle. With 



_i7i8 The Turks. 91 

zealous enthusiasm he dashed upon the enemy, and in 
much less than half a day had routed them, August 
taken their standards, their artillery, and an 1716. 
enormous quantity of booty. The Grand Vizier, who Avas 
himself commanding the Turkish troops, fell in the 
battle. The immediate result of this battle was that the 
Bannat of Temeswar, the only part of Hungary yet under 
the Turks, was freed from their rule. A more wide- 
reaching result was that the victorious career of the 
Turks was checked. Princes and noble volunteers 
flocked to Eugene's camp. The liveliest interest was 
everywhere felt in his victories, and the hope was enter- 
tained that he might drive the Turks out of Europe. 
The Greek inhabitants of the countries held in sub- 
jection by the Turks held eager hands out to him as to 
a deliverer. 

In June 171 7 Prince Eugene invested Belgrade, that 
unfortunate border city which from its position seemed 
to invite contest between Turks and Chris- sieseof 
tians ; it may be called the key of Hungary, Belgrade. 
and from one side or the other has stood seven sieges. 
The Imperialists had not carried on the siege more than 
six weeks when an enormous Turkish army, under the 
new Grand Vizier, came up to relieve the city. Strong 
in numbers, the Turks advanced close to Eugene's lines, 
and his army was indeed in a critical position. His 
besieging force was weakened by sickness occasioned by 
the damp ground on which they had been encamped, 
and he had not more than 40,000 to oppose to some 
200,000 fresh Turkish troops ; yet he saw that boldness 
was the best policy, and he determined without delay to 
attack the new army. It was about fifteen days after 
it had taken up its position. At midnight Eugene's troops 
started, but the attack in the early morning was partly 
helped and partly hindered by a mist which concealed 



92 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1718 

the whole battlefield. There was help on the one hand 
in that for some time the advance was hidden from the 
enemy until the Imperialists were close to them ; there 
was hindrance on the other evident when, as the mist 
cleared at about eight o'clock, Eugene saw that, though 
his wings were conquering, there was a great gap in 
the centre of his line, and through this gap the Turks 
were preparing to press. Eugene ordered up his re- 
serve and himself charged at the head of it ; then, 
whilst a fearful infantry fight ensued between his re- 
serve and the Janissaries, he sent orders to his nearest 
cavalry regiments to charge on the flank of the latter. 
This gave him the victory, together with trophies of 
every kind — prisoners, cannon, standards, booty ; more- 
over within a week Belgrade capitulated. 

It seems almost a pity that Eugene did not follow up 
his great successes and drive the Turks out of Europe, 
Peace of or at ^ east 5 by wresting more from them, 
Passarowitz. confine them within narrower limits. It 
might have been possible to have won for Austria the 
whole Danube valley down to the river mouth ; but 
Austria was weakened by the strain of her long wars, and 
Eugene had perforce to be content with his achievements. 
The peace of Passarowitz, which ended the war, secured 
to Austria such portion of Hungary as was not already 
hers, the Bannat of Temeswar, together with the town of 
Belgrade and portions of Bosnia, Servia, and Wallachia. 

The Turks, however, retained the Morea, and Venice, 
their old enemy, was unable ever again to make head 
against them. This treaty of Passarowitz (17 18) was 
also only a truce for twenty-five years, and peace lasted 
less than twenty ; but when the war broke out again the 
gallant Eugene was no longer alive to defeat his old 
opponents. Austria had reason to lament his loss. 



a.d. 1736 The Turks 93 



Section II. — The Second War. 

The English Ambassador at Vienna wrote to England 
shortly after the death of Prince Eugene : ' During the 
two last years of his life even the remainder j3 eath o{ 
of what he had been kept things in some Eugene. 
order, as his very Yes or No, during his sounder age, had 
kept them in the best.' 

The Prince died in 1736, and it was very soon seen 
that in him the only general of the Austrians was lost, 
whilst the War Office at Vienna had re- 
turned to its old and shameful condition, gene, 
The influence of the Jesuits was too strong Seckendorf - 
at the court; but still greater harm was done by the 
incompetence of the ministers, who allowed capable and 
unscrupulous underlings to manage the departments for 
their own interests. Yet the Emperor, believing that 
everything was going on well, and that his war machine 
was in perfect order, rashly determined on joining 
Russia in a war against the Turks. To this the priests 
encouraged him ; but the chief command of the army 
in spite of them was given to a Protestant general — 
Seckendorf — whom Eugene had himself selected. Had 
Seckendorf found an army well provided, it is more than 
probable that he would have justified Eugene's con- 
fidence. He reported that all the frontier fortresses 
were ' dilapidated and incapable of the smallest resist- 
ance ; ' he described his men as ' miserable and half- 
starved wretches.' There were net as many troops as 
represented ; the right amount for their pay was not 
sent. In consequence of Eugene's easy victories the 
people at Vienna despised their enemy ; but Eugene 
had an army of veterans, and had influence to see that 
they were adequately provided. Just as Seckendorf had 



94 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1737 

made preparations to open the campaign he received an 
order from the Emperor to commence it in a different 
part ; this involved a march of twenty-eight days under 
a July sun. Nor was this the only interference of which 
he had to complain. The unfortunate man was only in 
appearance commander-in-chief ; operations were really 
being managed from Vienna and by thoroughly incom- 
petent men. The result was that after a series of 
disasters Seckenclorf was recalled and the whole blame 
cast upon him. The Jesuits said that the failure was 
natural because Seckendorf was a Protestant. He was 
put under arrest and kept in imprisonment. 

On the renewal of hostilities at the beginning of the 
next year (1737) the command was given to the Emperor's 
Duke of son-in-law, the Duke of Lorraine, a young man 
Lorraine. of thirty ; but he was to do nothing without the 
advice of a majority in a council of war. The Duke 
gained a slight success at first, which was hailed with 
great joy in Vienna, but this was very soon turned into 
mourning by the defeat of the Duke. The Turks 
attacked with great spirit and drove the Imperialists 
back. The Imperialist army also suffered a great deal 
from sickness. The victory of the Turks was followed 
up, and the Imperialists were shut up in Belgrade. The 
Emperor was in great distress about this retreat of his 
troops upon Belgrade, and used to exclaim, ' Is the 
fortune of my empire departed with Eugene ? ' 

In the next year Belgrade was ceded to the Turks 
under circumstances disgraceful to the Emperor, to his 
Loss of ministers, and to the generals whom he 

Belgrade. employed. The soldiers were anxious to 
fight and were indignant at the surrender, but the 
Emperor was convinced by the defeats which he had 
suffered that he had no hope of prevailing against the 
Turks. He abandoned his ally Russia, who only ob- 



a.d. 1739 Polish Succession War. 95 

tained a condition that Azof should be demolished and 
occupied neither by Russians nor Turks, whilst the 
Russians gave up all claim to the navigation of the 
Black Sea. 

By the peace of Belgrade (1739) the Emperor 
practically ceded all that had been gained at Peace of 
the peace of Passarowitz. The fortune of the Belgrade, 
empire had departed with the great Eugene. 



CHAPTER II. 

POLISH SUCCESSION WAR. 



In 1733 began a war, which raged for about two years, 
involving most of the nations of Europe ; not perhaps im- 
portant in its details, but in several respects _ ,. , 

. _, ttt 1 1 i ■ Polish Suc- 

important in its results. Owing to Walpole s cession War, 
pacific policy England kept aloof from it. It I733- 
is called the War of the Polish Succession, and stands 
between two wars with a similar name, that of the Spanish 
Succession at the beginning of the century, and that of 
the Austrian Succession which was to come in another 
seven years. A difference, however, may be noted be- 
tween the Polish difficulty and the causes of the other 
two wars : Spain and Austria were countries in which the 
usual law of succession was to follow the hereditary rule. 
Trouble only came because of the failure in the two 
lines of Hapsburg princes. But Poland was an elective 
monarchy. Now an elective monarchy is in Ei ect i ve 
theory the best of all forms of monarchy, if monarchy, 
not of government, by the side of which hereditary mon- 
archy seems ridiculous. Opponents of the latter laugh 
at the idea of transferring a people like a flock of sheep 
or goats ; by contrast they maintain that elective 



g6 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1733 

monarchy allows a nation to choose its fittest man and 
entrust the reins of government to him. As a matter of 
fact, hereditary monarchy has been found to work 
smoothly, elective monarchy to be always fruitful in dis- 
cord. In Poland not only were the elections themselves 
scenes of the grossest disorder, but the defeated candi- 
dates used to raise up factions. Civil war was the com- 
mon sequel of an election to the crown. Foreign powers 
interfered, doing their utmost to influence an election. 
The trouble in 1733 was perhaps the worst of the disturb- 
ances that arose out of a vacancy in the throne of 
Poland ; it was by no means the only trouble of the kind. 
Early in the year died Augustus the Strong, Elector 
of Saxony and King of Poland. In view of his death 
Election to Austria and Russiahadbeen previously making 
Poland. agreement to act in concord. They were will- 
ing to take a candidate from a distant nation as least 
dangerous, and they had chosen the Infant of Portugal — 
a title used in Spain and Portugal to mean any son of 
the king except the eldest. But when the King died it 
seemed that France also was determined to have a voice 
in the election. Now there was living in France, or rather 
in Alsace, which at this time belonged to France, a former 
King of Poland. Stanislaus Leczynski was a Polish 
nobleman who had been elected King of Poland nearly 
thirty years earlier, through the influence of Charles XII. 
of Sweden. Stanislaus was only twenty-seven, and an 
objection was taken that he was too young ; but Charles 
silenced it with the remark, ' He is as old as I am.' 
But after this election came the battle of Pultowa, and 
the defeat of Charles by Peter the Great. When his 
supporter's fortune was no longer in the ascendent, Stanis- 
laus was driven from his kingdom. Whilst he was living 
in retirement, the French ministers fixed upon his daughter 
lo be the consort of the French King, after the dismissal 



a.d. i733 Polish Succession War. 97 

of the Spanish Infanta. Royal blood was necessary, and 
the five years during which Stanislaus had been king 
were sufficient to make his blood royal. Doubtless, 
however, his insignificance weighed with the ministers, 
who thought he would not give trouble. This daughter 
had been Queen Consort of France some eight years now, 
and either the French ministers had become less pacific or 
the King threw his weight into his father-in-law's scale, as 
France determined to press for the election of Stanislaus 
Leczynski as successor to Augustus the Strong. When 
the election was held the influence of France and the 
popularity of the idea of electing a native Pole prevailed. 
Stanislaus was elected. Within ten days of his election 
a large Russian army appeared at the gates of Warsaw,, 
and Stanislaus had to take to flight. The Russians 
maintained that they had come to support freedom of 
election ; in reality Austria and Russia had by this time 
agreed to support Augustus, Elector of Saxony, the son of 
the last king. Of the two candidates there is no doubt 
which the Poles preferred ; but Augustus, elected by a 
minority under the auspices of the Russian army, remained 
King of Poland for a space of thirty years. 

This was the cause of the War of the Polish Succession, 
Russia and the Emperor were on the side of Augustus of 
Saxony. Russia confined herself to the Polish SJdes taken 
side of the war — secured Poland, the nominal in the war. 
bone of contention, and besieged Stanislaus in Dantzig, 
from which town he was with difficulty able to escape. 
Various princes of the empire supported the Emperor, 
but very lukewarmly. Frederick William of Prussia was 
one, but he did not send more than the contingent pre- 
scribed by the law of the empire. Had he taken up the 
war vigorously, the result might have been different. 
On the other side were France, Spain and Savoy. It 
is advisable to consider the motive of each of these : 

M. H. H 



98 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1733 

France was anxious for Lorraine. If we look at the 
map of France it is evident there is a curious hollow 
between Alsace and France. The duchy of Lorraine 
separates them. Whether France had this duchy from 
the first in view, or whether, finding that the maintenance 
of Stanislaus on the Polish throne was impossible, she made 
the best bargain for herself, is uncertain. But as the 
war went on France made it her condition of 
ments at end assent to the election of Augustus — that the 
of war. duchy of Lorraine should be given to Stanis- 

laus, and upon his death be incorporated with France. 
This condition was finally accepted, and Lorraine re- 
mained joined to France until the greater part was with 
Alsace taken away again after the Franco-Prussian War 
of 1870. This demand of France came specially hard 
upon the Emperor because the Duke of Lorraine was the 
betrothed husband of his elder daughter, Maria Theresa. 
In order that Francis might not remain a ' duke without 
a duchy ' it was determined at the conclusion of the 
war that he should have the Grand Duchy of Tus- 
cany, which opportunely fell vacant (July 1737). Spain 
and Savoy joined in the war with a view to spoils 
that could be wrested from the Emperor in Italy. 
To the Oueen-mother of Spain the war proved the 
crowning stroke of her favourite policy. She had dis- 
turbed the peace of Europe in order to procure an appan- 
age for her son Don Carlos. In taking part with the 
French she chose her side wisely ; and the result was that 
her son became King of the Two Sicilies, in which posi- 
tion his descendants continued until in 1859 the heroic 
Garibaldi swept the dynasty away, joining the south to 
the kingdom of the north, making a great advance towards 
a united Italy. The King of Sardinia, formerly Duke of 
Savoy, who also gained by joining France in this war, 
was the ancestor of King Victor Emmanuel, who in our 
own time became King of a united Italy. 



a.d. 1735 Polish Succession War. 99 

The war, the results of which have thus been indicated, 
lasted two years, during which there was fighting in Italy, 
which formed the more important part of the indents of 
war, and in Germany. In the Italian campaigns the war - 
the Emperor had very much the worst of it. The war 
came upon Austria in a very unprepared condition. The 
German campaigns in the Rhine valley are memorable 
chiefly because Prince Eugene was for part of the time 
commander-in-chief of the imperial forces, and Frederick, 
the Crown Prince of Prussia, afterwards Frederick the 
Great, served in his camp. Eugene was growing old, 
being over seventy, but probably that would not have 
prevented his former great qualities as a general showing 
forth ; but he was abominably provided, receiving recruits 
instead of veteran soldiers, and no supplies. Frederick in 
after days wrote that Eugene's inaction of this time was 
as honourable to him as his earlier victories. 

This war may be said to have ended with the signing 
at Vienna of the preliminaries of peace in October 1735. 
It took some years before the definitive treaties p eace f 
were arranged and signed. By the last of Vienna. 
these treaties, signed three years later, France agreed to 
guarantee the Pragmatic Sanction ; and within two years 
more had, on the Emperor's death, incontinently broken 
the said guarantee. 

Augustus remained King of Poland for thirty years. 
He was elected October 5, 1733, and died on the same 
day in the year which ended the Seven Years' War. In 
less than nine years from his death took place the first 
partition of Poland. 

Stanislaus lived quietly as Duke of Lorraine, and met 
with his death at a great age (eighty-nine) in 1766, when 
he was burnt to death through an accident. At his death 
Lorraine was united to France. 



ioo The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1739 

CHAPTER III. 

JENKINS' EAR. 

In spite of Walpole's love of peace, and determined 
efforts to preserve it, in the year 1739 a war broke out 
with Spain, which is an illustration of the say- 
ing that the occasion of a war may be trifling, 
though its real cause be very serious. The war is often 
called the War of Jenkins' Ear. The story ran that eight 
years before (1731) a certain Captain Jenkins, skipper of 
the ship ' Rebecca,' of London, had been maltreated by 
the Spaniards. His ship was sailing from Jamaica, and 
hanging about the entrance of the Gulf of Florida, when 
it was boarded by the Spanish coastguard. The Spaniards 
could find no proof that Jenkins was smuggling, though 
they searched narrowly, and being angry at their ill- 
success they hanged him to the yardarm, lowering him 
just in time to save his life. At length they pulled off 
his ear and told him to take it to his king. To this Pope 
alludes in the couplet — 

And own the Spaniard did a waggish thing 

Who cropped our ears and sent them to the King. 

Much discredit has been thrown on this story. No 
less a man than Burke described it as 'a fable,' and 
is this story naturally the peace party wished that it should 
true? be so regarded. One writer says that when 

Jenkins died it was found that his ear had never been cut 
off at all. Another says that it was in the pillory that 
Jenkins lost the ear, which he carried about with him 
wrapped in cotton wool. 

But it is quite certain that the story was given in 
the London newspapers of the day on the return of the 



a.d. 1739 Jenkins' Ear. 101 

' Rebecca ' to that port. What is more extraordinary is 
that the story when first told made but little stir. Seven 
years later Captain Jenkins was examined by the House 
of Commons, on which occasion some member asked 
him how he felt when being maltreated, and Jenkins 
answered, ' I recommended my soul to God and my cause 
to my country.' The answer, whether made at the time 
or prepared for use in the House of Commons, touched 
a chord of sympathy, and soon was circulated through 
the country. ' No need of allies now, 5 said one poli- 
tician ; ' the story of Jenkins will raise us volunteers. 3 

The truth of the matter is that this story from its 
somewhat ridiculous aspect has remained in the minds of 
men, but that it is only a specimen of many „ , 

. , n ., . . . Real cause 

stones then afloat, all pointing to insolence of the 
of Spaniards in insisting upon what was after s P ams ar - 
all strictly within their rights. But the legal treaty 
rights of Spain were growing intolerable to Englishmen, 
though not necessarily to the English Government ; and 
traders and sailors were breaking the international laws 
which practically stopped the expansion of England in 
the New World. 

The war arose out of a question of trade, in this as in 
so many other cases the English being prepared to fight 
in order to force an entrance for their trade, which the 
Spaniards wished to shut out from Spanish America. 
This question found a place amongst the other matters 
arranged by the treaty of Utrecht, when the English 
obtained almost as their sole return for their victories 
what was known as the Assiento. This is a The 
Spanish word meaning contract, but its use Assiento . 
had been for some time confined to the disgraceful 
privilege of providing Spanish America with negroes 
kidnapped from their homes in Africa. The Flemings, 
the Genoese, the Portuguese, and the French Guinea 



102 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1739 

Company received in turn from \ Spanish kings the 
monopoly in this shameful traffic, which at the treaty of 
Utrecht was passed on for a period of thirty years to 
England, now becoming mistress of the seas, and with 
her numerous merchant ships better able than others to 
carry on the business. The English Government com- 
mitted the contract to the South Sea Company, and the 
number of negroes to be supplied annually was no less 
than 4,800 * sound, healthy, merchantable negroes, two- 
thirds to be male, none under ten or over forty years old.' 
In the Assiento Treaty there was also a provision for the 
trading of one English ship each year with Spanish 
America ; but in order to prevent too great advantage 
therefrom it was carefully stipulated that the ship should 
not exceed 600 tons burden. There is no doubt that this 
stipulation was regularly violated by the English sending 
a ship of the required number of tons, but with it nume- 
rous tenders and smaller craft. Moreover smuggling, 
being very profitable, became common ; it was of this 
smuggling that Captain Jenkins was accused. The 
Spaniards to stop the smuggling exercised their un- 
doubted right of search, and put all whom they could prove 
to have smuggled into loathsome dungeons. There is little 
doubt that the Spanish sailors were often guilty of undue 
violence. By 1738, the year when Jenkins was examined 
in the House of Commons, all England was ringing with 
stories of atrocities. In various public places sailors re- 
turned from captivity took up their station with speci- 
mens of the nasty food given to them in Spanish prisons. 
Doubtless the politicians that opposed Walpole, and 
favoured the idea of war, aggravated the stories, in them- 
, I7 , selves bad, and not without foundation. Wal- 

W ar de- ' 

dared Octo- pole, always anxious for peace, by argument, 

by negotiation, by delays, resisted the growing 

desire for war ; at length he could resist no longer. For 



a.d. 1739 Jenkins' Ear. 103 

the sake of his reputation he should have resigned office, 
but he had enjoyed power too long to be ready to yield 
it, and most unwisely he allowed himself to be forced into 
a declaration of war October 19, 1739. 

The news was received throughout England with a 
perfect frenzy of delight. The church bells were ringing 
joyful peals — a strange use for church bells ! — 
and Walpole is said to have remarked, ' They 
may ring the bells now — before long they will be wringing 
their hands ! ' 

A year and a day after this declaration of war an 
event occurred — the death of the Emperor — which helped 
to swell the volume of this war until it was The war be- 
merged into the European war, called the War comes much 
of the Austrian Succession, which includes ° 
within itself the First and Second Silesian Wars, between 
Austria and Frederick the Great of Prussia. The Euro- 
pean war went on until the general pacification in the 
treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1748. Within another ten 
years war broke out again on somewhat similar grounds, 
but on a much wider scale and with the combatants dif- 
ferently arranged, under the title ' Seven Years' War.' 

The events of this year, whilst the war was only be- 
tween Spain and England, were the attacks on Spanish 
settlements in America, the capture of Porto Bello, and 
the failure before Cartagena, which led to Anson's famous 
voyage. 

War being declared with Spain, the question remained 
in what way Spain should be attacked. There were two 
strongholds belonging to Spain between North and 
South America — Cartagena, the stronger, which Capture of 
is at the north of South America, and Porto Porto Bell °- 
Bello, on the Isthmus of Panama. It was determined to 
make an attempt on each of these. Unfortunately, 
during the long peace, all the fighting machinery had 



104 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1740 

been allowed to rust. Walpole had not acted on the 
principle, ' If you wish for peace prepare for war,' but in 
his zeal for economy had permitted the naval dockyards 
to fall into disorder, whilst all army arrangements were yet 
worse. One of these two places was not difficult to take. 
Admiral Vernon appeared before it with six ships, made 
assault, and the place was surrendered on the second 
day. This victory was very popular in England. There 
are still places in Great Britain called Porto Bello which 
were named in the midst of the public joy * and the -joy 
was increased by the following circumstance. In the 
heat of debate in Parliament, Vernon, a bluff and trouble- 
some member sitting on the opposition side, had said, 
* Give me six ships, and I will take the place.' Many had 
thought this force insufficient, and that he ought not to 
have been taken at his word ; and it was supposed that 
the ministers wanted to be rid of him, and rather hoped 
he would fail. 

But the far more important enterprise was the attempt 
on Cartagena, for which Vernon found that it would be 
Attack on necesssary to have soldiers as well as ships. 
Cartagena. j± verv large force was therefore prepared— 
twenty-five ships of the line and eighty transports, carry- 
ing about 7,000 soldiers and marines. But owing to the 
backwardness of preparations this force was at least four 
months too late, and instead of leaving England at mid- 
summer, as had been designed, did not sail for the 
tropics until November. In addition a small fleet was 
sent, under Commodore Anson, with instructions to sail 
round Cape Horn and to make attack on the Spanish 
possessions in Central America from the Pacific side at 
the same time as Vernon from the Atlantic. Such a 
scheme required punctuality in its performance. Anson's 
voyage became famous in other ways, but it did not in 
any way coincide with the attack on Cartagena. The 



a.d. 1740 Jenkins' Ear. 105 

whole expedition was as unfortunate in its later issues as 
it was unpunctual in its commencement. The original 
commander-in-chief died on the voyage out, and the 
general who took his place was not only utterly unfit for 
the command, but did not agree with Vernon. Far from 
co-operating, the general and Admiral Vernon were soon 
in open quarrel. In a spirit of pique the latter main- 
tained that his business was only to bring the soldiers to 
the place, theirs to take it. Meanwhile the very climate 
was fighting against the English in the shape of drenching 
tropical rains, for the delays had brought them to the 
tropics at a wrong season. Within ten days from the 
disembarkation of the troops, and after one most des- 
perate but perfectly hopeless attempt, the men were 
taken back to their transports. The mortality is some- 
thing terrible to consider. In three days from the land- 
ing the numbers were reduced from 6,645 to 3,200 effective 
men. To this must be added that the sick and wounded 
were most abominably tended. It happens that one who 
became in after days a famous English author, Tobias 
Smollett, was a surgeon's mate on board one of these 
ships. He has left an account of the whole expedi- 
tion, but especially of this part which concerned his own 
business ; and he adds that, because of the rancour 
between the chiefs, surgeons from the men-of-war 
were not permitted to attend the sick soldiers in the 
transports. It is certainly difficult to imagine such a 
desperate pass, or that if matters really reached such 
a state no punishment whatever should ensue. The 
Cartagena expedition was not only a complete but a 
shameful failure. 

This war between England and Spain did not end 
until the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), but for the 
remainder of the time it was carried on in a very desul- 
tory manner. There was no more fitting out of great 



106 The Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1740 

expeditions ; it almost seemed as if the Government 
Rest of on either side had no further concern in the 
w aniS priva- matter - It became a war of privateers on 
eers. both sides, at first with varying success, then 

with success inclining wholly to the English, who in 
one year took no less than 600 prizes. A privateer is 
a ship fitted out by private individuals at their own 
expense, to which Government gives permission to prey 
upon the commerce of the enemy. Such permission is 
called letters of marque. Without them a privateer 
would be a pirate. In conduct many privateers were 
uncommonly like pirates. It may be permitted here to 
add that a privateer's war is the very worst kind of war. 
There is no patriotism in it, merely an individual desire 
for gain. The horrors of such a war fall chiefly upon 
non-combatants — upon merchant ships, not men-of-war. 
In modern times it has been proposed in future wars to 
consider neutral all private property upon the sea. Per- 
haps the world is not ripe for such a measure of justice ; 
but it is more and more felt that the distinction between 
combatants and non-combatants should be strictly pre- 
served. 



CHAPTER IV. 

ANSON'S VOYAGE. 



The small fleet which was placed under the orders of 
Commodore Anson to operate against the Spanish settle- 
ments in the Pacific through unpunctuality 
object of ' failed altogether in its first purpose of attacking 
voyage. Panama, and across the isthmus offering a 
helping hand to Vernon in his attack on Cartagena. But 
the voyage became famous for the perils surmounted and 



a.d. 1740 Ansoris Voyage 107 

for the damage of various kinds done to Spain. The little 
squadron at first consisted of six ships : — 

Guns Men 

Centurion ....... 60 400 

Gloucester 50 300 

Severn 50 300 

Pearl . . . . . . . .40 

Wager 28 

Trial 8 

Owing to the unpunctuality in equipment already 
mentioned these ships arrived at Cape Horn at the worst 
time of the year, at the March equinox. Whilst rounding 
the Cape, and afterwards, they encountered the most 
violent weather — fearful storms and most bitter cold. 
The ships were unable to keep together, and the island 
of Juan Fernandez was appointed for a gathering place. 
When the storms were over the sailors were affected by 
the scurvy. So serious was this illness that hardly 
sufficient men were left alive to navigate the ships. The 
island of Juan Fernandez is Robinson Crusoe's island ; 
that is to say, it is the island in which Alexander Selkirk 
lived, the narrative of whose sojourn gave to Daniel 
Defoe the idea of Robinson Crusoe and his sojourn on 
an uninhabited island. To Anson's sailors it appeared 
like a paradise, containing plenty of fresh water and 
plenty of fresh herbs ; also goats, descendants of Selkirk's 
flock. 

Only three ships met at this island, the l Centurion,' 
the ' Gloucester,' and the ' Trial.' The ' Severn ' and the 
i Pearl' had suffered so badly that they were Fleet 
compelled to turn and go home. The ' Wager ' scattered. 
was wrecked on a small desert island, when the crew 
mutinied against the captain, and putting to sea in the 
longboat actually passed the Straits of Magellan, and 
about thirty of them even reached Rio Grande, in Brazil. 



ioS The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1740 

Four out of the officers, whom the men had left behind, 
escaped to the Spanish settlements in Chili, where they 
were treated generously, and ultimately, being exchanged 
for Spanish prisoners, returned home. One of these, 
then a midshipman, afterwards became Admiral Byron, 
and was grandfather to Lord Byron, the poet, who says 
himself that in describing a wreck in his poems he made 
use of accounts- that he had heard of scenes from the 
wreck of the ' Wager. 3 

From Juan Fernandez, Anson's three ships set forth 
in search of prizes. The little ' Trial ' captured a large 
merchant ship, and as the ' Trial ' was very leaky and 
unfit for further sailing, her crew was transferred to her 
prize. Then Anson determined to attack the Spanish 
town of Paita. Sixty sailors landing in boats were 
sufficient to take it ; and the English obtained large 
quantities of plunder. The treasure was taken on board 
the ' Centurion,' and then Anson most unjustifiably gave 
orders that the town should be burnt. Meanwhile the 
' Gloucester' also had taken valuable prizes. 

Anson's next scheme was to intercept one of the 
sralleons that traded between Manilla and Mexico. These 
Capture of nu g e vessels brought merchandise from Ma- 
gaiieons. n illa and carried back the precious metals from 
the port of Acapulco, in Mexico. But before he could carry 
out his design Anson was obliged to destroy his prizes, 
and concentrate on board the two ships ' Centurion ' and 
' Gloucester.' Having done this he put to sea, but the 
ships were caught in a storm, and it was found necessary 
to transfer the ' Gloucester's ' men to his own ship, the 
' Centurion,' which was now left alone. Lest the ' Glou- 
cester's ' hull should fall into the hands of the Spaniards 
she was set on fire. 

Now again the scurvy began doing great mischief to 
Anson's force, and reduced it until at one time there 



a.d. 1740 Anson's Voyage. 109 

were not seventy men fit for duty. They stayed at 
the island of Tinian, one of the Ladrones Anson at 
Islands, and there recruited their strength. Tinian. 
Whilst many, including the commodore, were ashore a 
violent storm arose and drove the c Centurion ' from her 
moorings, and quite away from the island. So few 
sailors had been left on board that it was doubtful 
whether the ship could be worked back again to her 
position. Anson proposed that they should lengthen a 
small Spanish ship which they had seized at the island, 
but which was in its present condition too small to hold 
them all, and so escape. Heartened by the example of 
their chief, they were all working vigorously at ship- 
building when from the top of a hill, to the great joy of 
all, the ' Centurion ' was espied returning. 

In the ' Centurion ' Anson sailed to Macao to refit and 
to supply himself with stores. Though Macao was a 
Portuguese settlement the governor would ■ , T 

. . , . . , , r . At Macao. 

give him nothing without the consent of the 
Chinese Government at Canton. As the mandarins 
made difficulties even about his purchasing provisions, 
Anson pointed out that the ' Centurion ' could destroy all 
the ships in Canton harbour; that his men, being hungry, 
could not be restrained much longer ; and that if they 
turned cannibals they would probably begin with the 
plump, well-fed Chinese ! The mandarins yielded with- 
out further parley. 

Anson had not given up his designs on the Spanish 
galleons, and in about a month he fell in with one off the 
Philippine Islands. The Spanish ship did not try to 
avoid an engagement, but strangely postponed clearing 
decks until the fight had begun. Anson abandoned the 
system of broadsides, keeping up instead a constant but 
irregular fire. Moreover he stationed his best marks- 
men in the rigging to fire at the Spanish officers. The 



no The Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1740 

result of his tactics was that though the Spaniards fought 
bravely they were beaten by the English, who had not 
half their number. The Spaniards lost in the fight 
151, the English 29. This prize had on board a million 
and a half of dollars. Anson took his prisoners to 
Canton, where he released them and sold his prize. At 
length he sailed for England round the Cape of Good 
Hope. When the ' Centurion ' reached home she had been 
absent three years and nine months. She brought home 
no little booty ; but the gain to Anson and his men was 
as nothing compared to the damage that had been done 
to Spain. Great was the glory gained. Proof had been 
given that England's seamen had not degenerated since 
the days of Elizabeth. Anson himself was made a peer. 



CHAPTER V. 

AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION. 



The Emperor Charles VI. was unfortunate enough 
twice to set a general European war on foot : once when 
Death of ne was st *^ a k°y> being one of the claimants 
Emperor, for the Spanish crown, one of the 'pair of 
louts,' as Lord Peterborough called them, on whose 
account the long War of the Spanish Succession was 
fought. The second occasion was when, after his death, 
the arrangements which he had made with care to pre- 
vent a war of Austrian Succession proved quite inadequate 
for that purpose. The Emperor's death was unexpected, 
taking place after a short illness. The death itself is 
said to have been caused by the Emperor's eating a 
dish of mushrooms at a time when he was already ill. 
Exactly forty years before the death of a Charles with- 



a.d. 1740 Austrian Succession. in 

out male heir had ended the line of the Spanish Haps- 
burg family ; now the death of a Charles ended the other 
branch, the Austrian Hapsburgs, for the Emperor left no 
male heir ; but he had two daughters, the elder of whom 
was the beautiful and famous Maria Theresa. For 
many years the whole object of his policy had PraCT . matic 
been to secure that she should succeed him in Sanction. 
his hereditary dominions, whilst latterly he had also 
hoped that her husband would be elected Emperor. 
Charles had therefore prepared an elaborate and formal 
document, long known as the Pragmatic Sanction, where- 
in it was decreed that, failing male issue, Maria Theresa 
should succeed him. For fifteen years he had done his 
best to induce the chief powers of Europe to give their 
assent to the Pragmatic Sanction, and their formal pro- 
mises that it should be carried out. No sacrifice seemed 
too great if this object could be attained. As far as 
diplomacy could serve, Charles might have died happy, 
for he had obtained all the guarantees which he had 
sought. It has been said that he left Maria Theresa 
an ample collection of parchments. Prince Eugene had 
warned the Emperor that it would have been far wiser 
to strengthen the army and fill the treasury than to trust 
in promises however sacred. Frederick the Great cyni- 
cally remarked that it would have been of more use if 
Charles had left his daughter an army of 100,000 men. 
Such was the nature of the legacy which Frederick's 
father, who also died in this memorable year (1740), had 
left to him ; and the first use to which he put his ad- 
mirably drilled army was, in disregard of Prussia's 
promise to support the Pragmatic Sanction, to invade 
the Austrian territory in order to put in force an old 
and obsolete claim of his family to the province of 
Silesia. 

Maria Theresa, who now became, and for a long 



H2 The Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1740 

time remained, one of the chief actors in the drama of 
Maria European history, was not twenty-four at her 
Theresa, father's death. She is described as very 
beautiful, 'her person formed to wear a crown,' with a 
winning and animated face, a noble figure, and fascinating 
manners. By nature she was very high-spirited, even 
proud, never willing to abate a jot from her claims. She 
was most sincerely desirous of the good of her people, 
which, however, must be compassed in her way, for she 
was despotic as well as benevolent. Her will was strong, 
her understanding vigorous. Generous, chivalrous, earn- 
est, she had religious principle as the mainspring of her 
life, but it was oftentimes a religious principle hardly to 
be distinguished from bigotry. 

The story goes that Frederick of Prussia wished once 
to marry her, and those who have the fancy to picture what 
,, . r might have been can see how the whole his- 

Marnage of ° 

Maria tory of Europe would have been altered by the 

union of Prussia and Austria. This marriage is 
said to have been Prince Eugene's strong and earnest wish. 
But the difference of religion would have been an insur- 
mountable barrier. For no marriage in the world would 
Maria Theresa, any more than Queen Caroline of 
England, have changed her faith. Some have thought 
that an earlier unity of Germany might have been 
secured with Austria as nucleus, but in those days of 
' balance of power ' would the other nations have per- 
mitted such a disturbance of it? Another match proposed 
for Maria Theresa was the Electoral Prince of Bavaria. 
When the War of the Polish Succession was turning out 
badly for the Emperor, Prince Eugene, in the last great 
state paper that he wrote, supported the idea of this 
marriage in order to strengthen the position of Austria 
in Germany and the German element in Austria. This 
paper of Eugene's, being exactly contrary to the 



a.d. 1740 Austrian Succession. 113 

Emperor's wishes for his daughter, seems to have 
decided the Emperor at once to make peace. 

It is pleasant to add that it was no marriage of policy 
which Maria Theresa made, but as genuine a love-match 
as any village maiden's. Four years before her father's 
death, after a mutual attachment of at least four years, 
she had married her cousin Francis, Duke of Lorraine, 
afterwards Grand Duke of Tuscany. It was this Duke of 
Lorraine who had been commander-in-chief in the middle 
year of the disastrous war against the Turks. Amongst 
the children of Francis and Maria Theresa must be 
mentioned Joseph, who succeeded Francis as Emperor, 
and the unfortunate Marie Antoinette, Queen of France. 

The Emperor hoped that upon his death this son-in- 
law would be elected Emperor; but as he would not give 
up the hope of a male heir, he did not like to secure this 
result by causing Francis to be elected King of the 
Romans. Ultimately Charles' wish was gratified. With- 
in five years Francis was elected Emperor, but the inter- 
val was full of wars and battles, and before him Charles 
VII., 'the bold Bavarian,' occupied the imperial throne, 
though on a precarious and uncomfortable tenure. 

Considering the solemn promises that had been made 
to the Emperor Charles VI., it is wonderful how soon 
the Pragmatic Sanction was set aside. Those Various 
who had promised began to make excuses, to c!aimants - 
quote saving clauses and conditions in their deeds of 
promise. George II. of England alone remained firm in 
the resolve to keep his kingly word. In a speech to. 
Parliament he announced that he meant to support 
Maria Theresa, and Parliament never thought of urging 
that England had nothing to do with the quarrel. The 
first to attack the dominions of Austria was Frederick,, 
afterwards called the Great, in his invasion of Silesia. 
His plan was to seize Silesia first and to treat w ith 

M. H. 1 



U4 The Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1740 

Maria Theresa afterwards. She never forgave Frederick 
for this, and three Silesian wars were the result of his in- 
vasion. In the last, the Seven Years' War, Frederick 
was nearly overwhelmed, but when he emerged from it he 
still retained his hold of Silesia. But though Frederick 
was the first, he was not the only enemy raised up 
against the Archduchess Maria Theresa ; the Elector 
of Bavaria, the King of Spain, and the Elector of Saxony 
claimed the whole or part of her dominions. 

The claim of Spain was based on an elaborate genea- 
logy and on a compact made by Charles V. when he 
abdicated his throne. It is very evident, how- 
ever, that this baseless claim to the whole 
monarchy was put forward in order that in any division 
some part might be secured. The Queen of Spain her- 
self confessed that she shared in the war in order ' that 
her second son, Don Philip, might gain a morsel of bread.' 
The Elector of Saxony, who was also King of Poland, 
claimed on the ground that his wife was the eldest 
daughter of the previous emperor, Joseph. 

But the claim of the Elector of Bavaria was considered 
the most formidable. Charles Albert was the son of 
Elector of the Elector who was defeated at Blenheim, 
Bavana. an( j Q f Cunigunda, daughter of the famous 
John Sobiesky, King of Poland. He himself had married 
the younger daughter of the previous emperor, Joseph. 
It is true that if there was any Salic law forbidding 
a female to succeed, it would operate not only against 
Maria Theresa, but against all the claimants ; for it 
would seem just that if a female cannot inherit she 
should not be able to transmit a claim. For 300 years 
of the House of Austria there had been no claim through 
a female. Yet it is manifest that the rules of succession 
in Austria must have been peculiar, for in England the 
daughters of Joseph would have succeeded before Charles 



Austrian Succession. 



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n6 The Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1740 

himself, the late emperor. This must have been the 
reason why Charles took so much trouble about the 
Pragmatic Sanction. His daughter's claim was not clearly 
recognisable. He therefore did his utmost to secure 
promises that it should be recognised. The Elector of 
Bavaria claimed that by the will of a former emperor,. 
Ferdinand I., females were excluded ; but when the 
original will at Vienna was examined, the word 'male' 
on which he relied was not found. 

The important question was, what side would France 
take ? When Frederick started for Silesia he is reported 
to have said to the French Ambassador, ' I 
believe that I am going to play your game 
(French hostility to Austria). If the aces fall to me, we 
will share the proceeds.' Yet on France's part there 
was a slight hesitation. Cardinal Fleury, the old Chief 
Minister, was in favour of accepting the Pragmatic 
Sanction. Like Walpole, he was a peace minister ; like 
Walpole, he was at this time forced into war ; like Wal- 
pole, he soon retired, and did not live long. Marshal 
Belleisle was at the head of a war party, chiefly consisting 
of young nobles, who desired to seize the opportunity to 
dismember France's old enemy, Austria. 

This Count Belleisle, who was the chief adviser of the 
French King in opposition to the policy of Fleury, was 
a notable man. He had conceived very de- 
finite plans with respect to Germany, such 
as were in accordance with the traditional lines of 
French ambition, but not of a kind to make Germans 
love his memory. His idea was divide et impera — keep 
Germany as disunited as possible, in order that France 
might prevail over her. A balance of power should be 
maintained ; but in Germany, not in Europe. French 
interference in the Thirty Years' War had helped the 
disunion of Germany and to mark more strongly the 



a. d. 1740 Austrian Succession. 117 

multiplicity of her independent little states. Belleisle 
had a fancy for four German kingdoms of something like 
equal power : Austria, Prussia, Saxony, and Bavaria. 
As Austria had hitherto been much more powerful than 
the others, the influence of France was to be thrown into 
the scale with the enemies of Austria, and on the spoils 
of Austria the other three kingdoms were to grow fat. 
Thus Frederick's seizure of Silesia would be supported 
by France. Count Belleisle obtained from the King the 
appointment of Ambassador Extraordinary to the courts 
of Germany, and proceeded to make a kind of semi-royal 
progress from one court to another. He had thirty young 
French lords in his suite, and no less than no servants 
in livery. To add to his importance, the King made him 
a Marshal of France. One of the first things to be done 
was to defeat the election of Maria Theresa's husband 
as Emperor. Belleisle conducted negotiations which 
ultimately led to the election of Charles Albert, Duke 
and Elector of Bavaria. He took the title Charles VII. 

The full design of Austria's enemies was to reduce 
Maria Theresa to Hungary, Lower Austria and the Aus- 
trian Netherlands, and to share the rest of her 
dominions amongst the various claimants. A against 
French historian claims that this conduct on Austria - 
the part of France was ' too generous,' because she was 
to keep no portion of the shared dominions for herself, as 
if the weakening of her ancient enemy was not reward 
enough for her. An alliance to this effect was made 
between France, Bavaria, and Spain, by the treaty of 
Nymphenburg. It was joined later by Saxony, and later 
still by Frederick of Prussia. France, however, did not 
declare war. Her cue was to appear only as Bavaria's 
ally, and her first act was to hold George II. in check by 
marching an army upon Hanover. George, who was just 
preparing to take the field, agreed by the treaty of 



n8 



The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1740 



Hanover to neutrality for a year, on condition that there 
should be no French invasion of the Netherlands. 

The second act of France was to send an army 

towards Upper Austria. On crossing the frontier of 

A French their country the French soldiers put on white 

army. and blue cockades, the badge of Bavaria, as 

if they were Bavarian soldiers. This Franco-Bavarian 

army soon seized the whole of Upper Austria, and the 



I the Upper Danube 

English Miles 




E.Wellcr 



Elector of Bavaria was proclaimed at Linz, the capital of 
Upper Austria, hereditary Grand Duke. From Linz the 
victors might easily have marched on Vienna. Frederick, 
indeed, advised that they should ; but for some reason 
the Elector preferred to turn aside against Bohemia. 
The general belief is that the French did not wish to make 
him too strong. The capture of Prague soon followed, 
and in that capital, in November, the Elector was crowned 
Kins: of Bohemia. 



a.d. 1 741 Austrian Succession. 119 

On June 25, 1741, Maria Theresa was crowned at 
Presburg, Queen of Hungary. This was her highest 
title until, in after days, her husband was Maria 
elected Emperor. Then she was known as J-o^nedat 
the Empress Queen. The English ambassa- Presburg. 
dor, an eye-witness, gave the following description of the 
scene : — 'The Queen was all charm; she rode gallantly 
up the royal mount, and defied the four corners of the 
world with drawn sabre, in a manner to show she had 
no occasion for that weapon to conquer all who saw 
her. The antiquated crown received new graces from 
her head, and the old tattered robe of St. Stephen 
became her as well as her own rich habit, if diamonds, 
pearls, and all sorts of precious stones can be called 
clothes.' 

Even in June Maria Theresa must have needed all 
her high spirit to make this defiance. In the next three 
months her fortunes were fast ebbing, till at . 

. Appeal to 

what seemed the lowest ebb she determined Hungarian 
to make a great effort to rouse the loyalty of su Jects " 
her Hungarian subjects. In September she made pa- 
thetic and earnest appeal to the Diet, evoking their 
enthusiasm. The scene has been somewhat touched up 
by later writers, especially by Voltaire. The Queen is 
usually represented as carrying her little baby in her 
arms, making a Latin speech to the effect that she was 
forsaken by all, and invoking their ancient Hungarian 
valour to save her. The story runs that the members 
of the Diet sprang to their feet, drew their sabres, and 
shouted, ' Moriamur pro rege nostro, Maria Theresia ! ' 
The evidence, however, for the degree of excitement 
which made her a king instead of a queen is not very 
strong. But there is no doubt whatever of the great 
enthusiasm with which she was received. The House of 
Austria had not hitherto made much of their Hungarian 



120 The Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1742 

dominions, and the Hungarians were especially pleased to 
be called upon for assistance. They secured advantages 
also. The Queen pledged herself to restore to them their 
ancient constitution, and a large Hungarian army was 
soon ready to defend right loyally the beautiful young 
queen. The Diet voted an msurrectzo or general rising 
of the whole country in arms. These Hungarians were 
no ordinary soldiers, but enjoyed a special reputation for 
ferocity. 

Charles Albert had proceeded from Prague to Frank- 
fort, where the Diet of the Empire had been summoned, 
Elector and, influenced by France, it elected him 

Bavana, Emperor with the title of Charles VII. 

Emperor r 

Charles VII. (January 24, 1742). On February 12 he was 
crowned. The poor man is himself described by one who 
was present as ' very ill, dying of gout and gravel.' But 
the most famous description of him occurs in Johnson's 
' Vanity of Human Wishes,' which was published within 
five years of his death. 

The bold Bavarian, in a luckless hour, 

Tries the dread summits of Caesarean power, 

With unexpected legions bursts away, 

And sees defenceless realms receive his sway : 

Short sway ! fair Austria spreads her mournful charms, 

The Queen, the Beauty, sets the world in arms ; 

From hill to hill the beacon's rousing blaze 

Spreads wide the hope of plunder and of praise ; 

The fierce Croatian, and the wild Hussar, 

With all the sons of ravage, crowd the war ; 

The baffled prince, in Honour's flattering bloom 

Of hasty greatness finds the fatal doom, 

His foes' derision, and his subjects' blame, 

And steals to death from anguish and from shame. 

It is quite with a right instinct that history has 
attached importance to the scene or scenes in the Diet 



a.d. 1742 Austrian Succession. 121 

at Presburg. Here was the turning point in the fortune 
of ' fair Austria.' 

The change from September to the following February- 
was indeed complete. In September the Elector of 
Bavaria, with the army that was at least 
nominally his, took Upper Austria, and, in Maria The- 
October, Bohemia. Maria Theresa's fortunes resa gams " 
seemed at the lowest pitch. In October she appealed 
to her Hungarians, the English sent her large subsidies 
in money, and Frederick, by a private convention, offered 
her a break in the war against him. This gave her for 
a while a breathing space, and after a little further 
struggle the First Silesian War ended in the Peace of 
Breslau. Frederick had gained Silesia. The French 
were very angry that he had made peace. The general 
result was that the French were hard pressed in Bohemia, 
whilst Maria Theresa's troops advanced into Austria, 
and, by a curious coincidence, regained Linz, the capital 
of Upper Austria, on the very day that Charles Albert 
was elected Emperor. Then, following up their victory, 
they took Munich, the capital of his own dominions, on the 
very day that he was crowned, so that Charles VII. was a 
Lackland Emperor as soon as ever he was Emperor at all. 

The French had gone to Prague in very victorious 
fashion. But now that the Austrian cause was gaining 
the recapture of Upper Austria cut the French 
army off from Bavaria. It was so diminished in French 
numbers, and in such sore need of reinforce- army * 
ments, that the Austrians were able to besiege it in this 
very town of Prague. A second army was sent by France, 
which was nicknamed the ' army of redemption,' but 
it was not able to fight its way as far as Prague. The 
utmost that it could accomplish was to seize the town of 
Eger, on the Bohemian frontier, and by holding it to 
secure a line of retreat for Belleisle and his army towards 



122 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1743 

the Main Valley. Belleisle determined to make a sortie 
from Prague and convey his troops as quickly as possible 
to Eger. The December weather was most bitter : 
Christmas Day fell in the middle of the retreat. There 
was a hard frost, and snow lay on the ground, so that 
this retreat has been compared to the famous retreat 
from Moscow. The distance was only a hundred miles, 
but an enormous proportion of the men fell victims to the 
hardships of the march. The invalids and wounded had 
been left under a general at Prague. When summoned 
to surrender at discretion he made reply, ' Tell your 
general that unless he grants me the honours of war, I 
shall set fire to the four corners of Prague and bury 
myself in its ruins.' His heroism met with its fitting 
reward. 

Prague once cleared of its wrongful occupants, Maria 
Theresa quickly seized the opportunity to be crowned. A 
Maria second coronation scene took place in Prague 

crowned ^-^Y I2 > T 743- ® n ner father's death she was 
at Prague, proclaimed in Vienna, and she had now been 
crowned Queen of Hungary at Presburg, and Queen of 
Bohemia at Prague. She did her best to clear all rebel- 
lion out of Bohemia, and meanwhile her armies invaded 
Bavaria, very legitimately carrying the war into the 
country of the prince whose actions brought it on. He, 
poor man, was little more than a fugitive on the face of 
the earth. By September he gave up the struggle com- 
pletely, and for the remaining sixteen months of his life 
the titular Emperor lived at Frankfort entirely reft of 
power. 

Parallel with the war in Germany there was war also 
going on in Italy. Spanish troops had been landed in 
War in Italy under Don Philip, the second son of the 

Italy. Queen of Spain. The object of this force was 

to attack Milan as part of the Austrian possessions, and 



a. d. 1743 Battle of Dettingen. 123 

it was thought that Don Philip's elder brother Charles, 
King of Naples, would render assistance. But the king- 
dom of Naples, or of the Two Sicilies as it was often called, 
was forced into neutrality by an English fleet, which 
appeared in the Bay of Naples, and threatened to bom- 
bard the city if the King did not sign a treaty of neutrality. 
Deprived of this expected assistance, Don Philip was 
not able to do much. 



CHAPTER VI. 

BATTLE OF DETTINGEN. 



Dettingen is a very well remembered battle, because 
it was the last in which an English sovereign fought in 
person. But it is this single fact which has England and 
given it importance, not any display of military aiifes°of com- 
genius, nor any great results achieved by batants. 
either side. Curiously enough, France and England, the 
two principal combatants in the battle, were supposed 
not to be at war with each other. England was an ally 
of Austria ; France was an ally of the Emperor ; and 
it was not until a later date that these allies of two 
belligerents declared war against each other. 

The English army was under the command of the 
Earl of Stair, who, though a pupil of Marlborough, was 
never a great general, and now was growing 
old and infirm. With very slow steps the 
army advanced from Flanders to a position near Frank- 
fort-on-the Main. It seems doubtful whether Lord Stair 
had any definite policy at all, except to wait for reinforce- 
ments. But what would be the use of the reinforcements 
unless there was something determined upon for them 
to do ? Stair gave no explanation of his intentions 
nor any defence of himself afterwards. But the most 



124 The Early Hanoverians. a ? d. 1743 

probable solution is that he meant to march from Frank- 
fort some way up the valley of the Main, and then cross 
over to the Danube, there to co-operate with the Austrian 
army. Stair's force, when the reinforcements had joined 
him, consisted of some 44,000 men — 16,000 English, 16,000 
Hanoverians, and the rest Austrians, Hessians, and a 
few Dutch ; but the whole was an English army in the 
sense that England paid for all, except the Dutch. The 
arrangements for the commissariat were, one may almost 
say as usual, very bad. Frederick the Great once said 
that an army was ' like a serpent, and advanced upon 
its belly.' And it is true that the bravest soldiers can 
do but little unless sufficient arrangements are made for 
their feeding. In consequence of the different elements 
of which the army was composed, quarrels and jealousies 
were rife ; and Stair was a good deal hampered. 

The French army with which Stair had first to deal 

was under the command of Marshal Noailles, and was 

, _ , numerically stronger than Stair's. In spite of 

1 he French. . , _ T \ 

this advantage, however, Noailles would not 
risk a battle, but pursued a Fabian policy, cutting off 
supplies and harassing the English army generally. 
Stair rather wished to fight at once, but his colleagues 
outvoted him. 

The English army advanced up the valley of the Main 
as far as the town of Aschaffenburg. There it was joined 
The situa- by King George himself, who soon saw that it 
tion. would be impossible for the army to advance 

further. Of food for the army there was so little that the 
men were almost in a state of starvation : of fodder for 
the horses the supply was so scant, that it was said that 
if the troops had remained in the same position two days 
longer, it would have been necessary to have put all the 
horses to death. Noailles' army had effectively cut off 
supplies, of which the English had none nearer than 



A.D. 1743 



Battle of Dettingen. 



125 



Hanau, upon which place it was therefore determined to 
retreat. But Noailles did not intend to let the English 
retreat. He said he had caught them in a mouse-trap, 
and having once caught them he was not going to let 
them escape. The wooded hills of Spessart run parallel 
with the Main, and between Aschaffenburg and Dettingen 



/#•"■ V\ L 










" 'm " 

?Y-- 







5 JbL_4 



March, of the Allied Jjrrrvy . 
Jhstjauon, oftj^c A2Iic<i~Armv 
"before the E» aids', . 
Two liridj^es a£. S<iliffenst<ijdc . 
Frenc!i,B attends ■ 
FhsrtchyForces wuLer CrajnmonJL. 



I .Wdisr 
F NoaiZLes 'Main. Army . 
G Frenrh, Guard ruav^J:ir>.a in. flszrji; 
H Point, vjh&rc they wei-e rfrvsext. 

into die. River. 
I RetreaZ oftJuZ. French. ■ 



at some points draw very near to the river. Noailles 
seized Aschaffenburg as soon as' the English had evacu- 
ated it. On the west bank of the river he had drawn up 
batteries of artillery to fire upon the English as they re- 
treated on the opposite bank ; and in the village of 
Dettingen he stationed some picked troops under his 



126 TJie Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1743 

nephew, the Duke of Gramont. At Dettingen a brook 
pours into the Main, and as the English would have to 
cross it, Noailles chose that as the point for the complete 
destruction of the English troops. 

It certainly seemed as if Noailles really had caught 
the English army in a trap. As the English marched 
from Aschaffenburg to Dettingen, they suffered 
terribly from the fire of the French artillery 
on the opposite bank. The river could not be crossed, 
and there was no way to silence the artillery. As the 
advanced guards reach Dettingen, they find that the way 
is blocked. For some six hours the troops were being 
drawn up in as good order as possible, considering the 
cramped space. At length Gramont became impatient 
of awaiting the English assault, and instead of obeying 
orders and maintaining his ground he advanced with his 
best cavalry, the French regiment called Maison du Roi, 
no doubt expecting an easy and a rapid victory. The 
charge came with such force that it broke, at least in parts, 
the three front lines of the English, but could not break 
the fourth. The result now was that Gramont's cavalry 
and the English infantry were so mixed together that 
the fierce cannonade from the opposite bank was obliged 
to cease, lest it should do as much harm to the French 
as to the English. Some of the French infantry advanced 
to the attack and were driven back with complete defeat 
into the river, many throwing themselves in, and being 
drowned in the attempt to swim across. The English who 
had steadily resisted these shocks were now in turn able 
to advance, the French hastily retreating out of their way. 

When once the French were routed, Stair wished to 
send the English cavalry to follow up the fugitives ; but 
in so doing he ignored the fact that many of the French 
soldiers had not been in the battle at all. Indeed, if 
Gramont had obeyed orders and waited, it is yery 



a. d. 1743 Battle of Dettingen. 127 

doubtful whether the English would have forced their 
way through. The King at any rate was convinced that 
the wisest use for the English to make of their victory 
was to escape from their perilous position ; and through 
pouring rain the troops marched to Hanau. He even 
sent a polite message to Noailles asking him to bury the 
dead and take care of the wounded : it is to the honour 
of Noailles that he did. Perhaps he felt that such a re- 
quest took off much from the sting of defeat. 

Frederick the Great used to delight in giving a comic 
account of the attitude of his uncle King George during 
this battle. He describes him as constantly King George 
in the attitude of a fencing-master at the lunge. H. 
But Frederick did not love his uncle and was fond of 
ridiculing him. There is no doubt, from other sources, 
that once King George's horse ran away with him, and 
that when once it was stopped, the King, being firmly on 
the ground, said, ' No more running away now ' : that the 
King placed himself at the head of the troops and en- 
couraged them by saying, ' Steady, my boys ; fire, my 
brave boys, give them fire, the French will soon run.' In 
fact there cannot be any doubt that the King showed the 
same personal bravery in the field, as much earlier in his 
life he had shown at the battle of Oudenarde. If Noailles 
had succeeded in capturing the King it would have been 
a serious matter. Perhaps the price of his redemption 
would have been the withdrawal of England from the 
alliance with Maria Theresa. It has been felt that such 
a risk as the capture of the Sovereign ought not to be 
run ; hence the reputation that Dettingen enjoys as the 
last battle in which an English sovereign fought in person. 

The results of the battle were that the English had 
fought their way back to their supplies at R esu ] ts f 
Hanau, and apparently not much more, ex- battles, 
cept that it gained for King George some glory, which at 



128 The Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1743 

this time fell against the interests of peace. The cause 
of Maria Theresa had for some time been gaining ground, 
and now that her ally had also gained a victory, though 
apparently a useless victory, it was more difficult than 
ever to persuade her to be moderate. The war had 
changed its nature. It began as the war of Austrian 
succession, and was then intended to prevent the 
dominions of Maria Theresa from being broken up. It 
had now become on her part a war of vengeance against 
France — and at this point England ought to have left off 
assisting her. This at any rate was the opinion of a very 
eminent Englishman, who had been keen for the war at 
first, — William Pitt, afterwards Lord Chatham. In a 
speech made in Parliament in the December after 
Dettingen he noticed the change in the nature of the 
war, and declared that peace ought to have been made. 

In England as at Vienna there was a great deal of 
rejoicing over the battle, one sign of which remains to 
this day in the well-known ' Dettingen Te Deum,' com- 
posed by Handel, then at the height of his fame. 



CHAPTER VII. 

DETTINGEN TO FONTENOY, 



The two years of which the battle of Dettingen formed 
the centre were years of great success for Maria Theresa. 
Bohemia and Upper Austria reconquered, 
Theresa and the French invaders thus driven back 
prospering, everywhere from her territory. The Em- 
peror, nominally her chief enemy, had lost his own 
country, Bavaria, and was dependent for his very sub- 
sistence on the bounty of France. England was upon 




Xondon: Xorupiums &. Co. 



a.d. 1744 Dettingen to Fontenoy. 129 

her side, lavish with subsidies, and now at length with 
an army in the field. But Maria Theresa would not 
make peace ; she wanted to humiliate France and to 
annul the election of the Emperor. 

The results of her obstinacy were twofold. France, 
which had hitherto professed to hold a secondary posi- 
tion in the war, to be only the Emperor's 
auxiliary, declared war both against England becomes a 
and Austria, and entered upon it with great P rmci P aL 
vigour, choosing as battle ground that unfortunate 
country, which has been called the ' cockpit of Europe,' 
the Austrian Netherlands. Secondly, Maria Theresa 
brought Frederick again into the field against 
her. He professed to be only concerned for 
the Emperor ; but he probably felt that, if her career of 
victory continued without a check, the first use which 
Maria Theresa would make of her consolidated and in- 
creased power would be to make one more effort to re- 
gain the province of Silesia, the loss of which 'she so 
bitterly regretted. Frederick's principle always was to 
strike first if a blow from any quarter was impending. As 
champion of the Emperor, Frederick organised a union 
of German princes called the ' Union of Frankfort,' but 
either they had no care for German unity or they mis- 
trusted Frederick. Besides himself and the Emperor, 
only two princes joined it. 

Exactly two years after the peace of Breslau the 
Second Silesian War began ; it lasted eighteen months, 
during which the death of the Emperor c , c - 

* becond bi- 

seemed to remove all reason for the war. lesian War. 
Frederick invaded Bohemia and seized Prague, then 
was driven back into Silesia, was followed, won a great 
battle, entered Bohemia again, and there won another 
battle. By this time Saxony had joined Austria with 
designs which extended as far as the partition of Prussia. 
M. K 



130 The Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1744 

Again to be beforehand, Frederick invaded Saxony, won 
two great battles, had Saxony entirely at his mercy, and 
then showed himself exceedingly moderate in his terms. 
Peace was signed on Christmas Day at Dresden. 

The King himself, urged by one of his favourites to 
shake off his torpor and show himself a real king, 
v T \, went to command the army in the Netherlands, 
XV. and there saw Marshal Saxe take several 

towns. News came that the Austrians were invading" 
Alsace, and the King went against them with Noailles 
and an army of 50,000 men. On the way he was taken 
ill at Metz, and it was thought that he would die. From 
his sick bed he sent a message to Marshal Noailles : 
' Remember that Conde won a battle whilst Lewis XIII. 
was being carried to his tomb.' There was great excite- 
ment throughout France about the King's illness, and 
when a rumour reached Paris that it had ended fatally, 
the mourning was widespread and genuine. A violent 
remedy not prescribed by the physicians cured the 
malady, and there was great rejoicing. It was then that 
he received the title ' Well-beloved,' which he, a disso- 
lute and profligate man, deserved less than any king. 
What possibilities of beneficent reform were open to a 
king, if such loyalty still attached to his office ! This was 
not quite fifty years before the beheading of his grandson 
in the French Revolution. The 'Well-beloved' certainly 
helped to bring it on. 

Early in 1744 the British fleet won a victory over the 
combined French and Spanish fleets, not far from the 
c r u . harbour of Toulon. The victory was not so 

Sea fight _ _ J 

near Toulon, complete as it might have been, because of 
the want of harmony between the officers in command 
of the fleet, and the bulk of the French and Spanish 
ships were able to escape. About the naval supremacy 
of Great Britain there was no doubt. 



a. d. 1745 Dettingen to Fontenoy. 131 

In January 1745 the Emperor Charles VII. died in 
his own capital at Munich. It is usual to say that his 
death was as much the result of his troubles 
as of disease ; but if he had half the illnesses ' Bold Bava- 
that Voltaire assigns to him, he had quite nan ' 
enough to kill him without any disasters, — ' He had the 
gout and the stone ; they found his lungs, his liver, and 
his stomach gangrened, stones in his bladder, and a 
polypus in his heart.' Even three years before, at his 
own coronation at Frankfort, Frederick the Great's 
sister had said of him : ' The poor Kaiser could not 
enjoy it much ; he was dying of gout and gravel, and 
could scarcely stand on his feet.' It is sometimes the 
fashion to speak of Charles VII. as a sort of pretender, 
a Perkin Warbeck, not a genuine emperor at all. 
Nothing can be more incorrect. He was elected as the 
other emperors were, and it was Maria Theresa alone 
who protested during his lifetime. Even if there had 
been an informality in the election there was a large 
majority of voices for Charles. An unhappy emperor is 
still an emperor. No doubt his death at this conjuncture 
helped the cause of Maria Theresa very materially. 

The new Elector of Bavaria at once made overtures 
of peace to Austria, renouncing all his claims to Austrian 
dominions, and offering his own vote for the Election of 
Grand Duke Francis. On these terms he se- Francis. 
cured his own hereditary dominions of Bavaria. Here 
was another point at which a general peace might have 
been made, but Maria Theresa's ambition and resent- 
ment again stood in the way. In September of this year 
(1745) Francis was elected Emperor, and shortly after- 
wards duly crowned at Frankfort. 



132 The Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1745 



CHAPTER VIII. 

CAMPAIGN OF FONTENOY. 

After the battle of Dettingen the French had some 
fear that the allied army would invade France. Their 
Marshal chief reliance for defence was placed not in 
Saxe. either of the generals defeated at Dettingen, 

but in an abler man, who then received the nickname 
' Buckler of Alsace.' This was Maurice, Count of Saxony, 
afterwards known as Marshal Saxe, a soldier of fortune, 
but no Frenchman, and with no special tie to France, 
except that France had hired his sword. By birth he 
was a German, for he was the natural son of Augustus 
the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. By 
religion he was nominally a Lutheran, but his life was 
a credit to no religion. In a careless and dissolute 
age there were few so dissolute as he. His morality 
was the morality of a camp. A characteristic but un- 
supported story ran that when he was a boy of eleven 
or twelve he escaped from his tutors and governors, 
and appeared in Eugene's camp before Lille, eager to 
see what war was like ; but, indeed, he was a soldier 
born and bred, and the first general of his generation, 
not excepting Frederick the Great, who had to learn 
from the bitter experience of defeat what Saxe knew 
without that teaching. There are, however, those who 
say that Saxe's greatness is to be attributed to the 
littleness of his opponents. Maurice was tall and power- 
ful-looking — his physical strength was so great that he 
could break horseshoes with his hands. But when he 
was appointed to the command of the army in Flanders 
he was a wreck. His vices had brought on dropsy, so 
that he could with difficulty move. Voltaire met him 



a.d. 1745 Campaign of Fontenoy. 133 

leaving Paris, and asked him how he could start for a 
campaign in health so bad. ' It is not a question of living,' 
he answered, ' I must start.' The human will has mighty 
power to conquer physical suffering. During all the battle 
of Fontenoy the general was carried about the field in a 
litter of basket-work, for he could not sit on horseback. 
Because of his intolerable thirst he was chewing a leaden 
bullet. 

The campaign in Flanders consisted chiefly of sieges 
until the great battle of Fontenoy. The French were 
besieging the strong and important city of Cam aicrn . 
Tournay, to the relief of which the Duke of Flanders. 
Cumberland, at the head of the allied army, marched. 
Leaving a sufficient number of soldiers in his lines 
before Tournay, and even then having more than Cum- 
berland, Marshal Saxe turned to meet him. The King 
of France and his son, the Dauphin, came from Paris on 
purpose to witness the expected battle. The field of 
battle is pretty well defined by the river Scheldt The batt] 
on the west side, and some boggy and wooded of Fontenoy. 
land on the north. The French line occupied the inner 
side, and as the French meant to receive, not to make, 
the attack their line was strongly fortified. In front of 
the villages Antoine and Fontenoy, and between them, 
redoubts had been built ; and at the northern edge of 
the battlefield, on the outskirts of a wood, there was 
another fort, called, after the regiment which held it, the 
redoubt d'Eu. The space between this and Fontenoy 
was not fortified, and seems to have been nearly 1,000 
yards. Cumberland assigned to his Dutch and Austrian 
troops the left of his line ; their business was to attack 
Antoine. He himself with the English and Hanoverian 
infantry was to march against Fontenoy. An English 
general with some Highlanders and other troops was 
told off to attack the fort which lay on the extreme right 



134 



The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1745 



of the allies — the redoubt d'Eu. Unfortunately neither 
on the right nor on the left was the work done. The 
English general on the right found the redoubt too strong 
for him. As he marched to the attack he met with some 
French skirmishers in the wood, and thought that they 
formed part of a large body of troops, whereupon he 




I T0URNA5T 



y\l Antoinefi 



4^ 
O 



Bo 



'ssy 



LotlcL 



Fort d-E^S%f^ 

* r -K?.^^-"-V.\- 



Battle of 

FONTEFGT 

Scale of Miles 



*f r 



■ . E.WeUei- 

O O Forts . "M- Tower and windmill where French,£u\g & Dauphin, were 
A FrtTLf:h troops - In/anxry in, fronz , Cavalry in, rear . 

B Dufj-Ji & Austrian. „ 

C English. '. „ 

D English, in Z r position. ,where tfiey hroT^e. thr, line. . 

E Dccachmenz ofJBighicjiders, &c., s&rtf. curly i/t ocJlLi to axtac/c Fort cL'Ew* 



returned to the Duke of Cumberland to ask for artillery, 
and thus lost the favourable time for attack. For this 
he was afterwards tried by court-martial and expelled 
the service. The Dutch and Austrian troops on the left 
of the line advanced against Antoine, but finding them- 
selves exposed to a galling fire retreated and relinquished 



a.d. 1745 Campaign of Fontenoy. 135 

the attempt. It was said that one Dutch colonel drew 
his men off, took them to Ath, some dozen miles, whence 
he wrote to his superiors that the whole allied army- 
had been cut to pieces, except the part which he had 
prudently brought off safe. 

Three times did the Duke of Cumberland attack 
Fontenoy in the centre of the line, but each time he was 
repulsed, so that none of the attacks on the 
forts succeeded. Then hastily modifying his ofthein- 
plan, Cumberland determined to break through fantr y- 
the French line between Fontenoy and the wood. This 
was a most desperate enterprise. The ground was very 
irregular, and sloped downwards towards the French 
position. All the way, except when they could secure a 
momentary cover, the English troops were exposed tc 
a galling cross-fire from the batteries on either side of 
them. Into this space, which, like Balaclava, might be 
described as ' the jaws of hell,' the English troops upon 
order given bravely advanced in three columns, dragging 
some cannon with them. Marshal Saxe afterwards said 
that he never could have believed it possible that any army 
would attempt such a feat ; otherwise he would have placed 
additional fortifications in the gap. 

At this stage an incident occurred which has been 
often discussed. Voltaire gives a story that the officers 
of the regiment of the English Guards at the head of the 
advancing column saluted the French by pulling off their 
hats ; that the French officers returned the salute ; that the 
English commanding officer cried out, ' Gentlemen of the 
French Guards, fire ! ' whereupon the French officer 
replied, ' Gentlemen, we never fire first ; fire yourselves ! ' 
Unfortunately for this pretty story a letter has been pre- 
served written only three weeks later by this very com- 
manding officer in which he says, ' It was our regiment 
that attacked the French Guards, and when we came 



136 The Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1745 

within twenty or thirty paces of them I advanced before 
our regiment, drank to them, and told them that we were 
the English Guards, and hoped that they would stand till 
we came quite up to them, and not swim the Scheldt, as 
they did the Mayn at Dettingen. Upon which I im- 
mediately turned about to our own regiment, speeched 
them, and made them huzzah. An officer came out of 
the ranks and tried to make his men huzzah ; however, 
there were not above three or four in their brigade that 
did.' Whichever fired first, the English had much the 
best of the shooting. Their firing was so good that ac- 
cording to a French officer's report one volley fired 
against some charging cavalry brought down 460 men 
from their saddles. The English columns advanced 
steadily in every encounter, defeating those opposed to 
them. The result was that the French army was cut in 
two. In a battle the breaking of the enemy's line is 
always a great point gained. It may be remembered 
especially how it was a favourite movement with Marl- 
borough, and how it proved the turning-point at Blen- 
heim and at Ramillies. But the. movement requires 
support and does not necessarily give the victory. When 
Cumberland halted his men 300 yards beyond Fontenoy 
an onlooker might have thought that he would surely 
win. Such an onlooker would have thought this still 
more had he known, what was a fact, that Marshal Saxe 
had sent to beg the King and the Dauphin to retire from 
the battlefield. The King, however, courageously re- 
fused. ' If the Dutch,' says Voltaire, ' had given proper 
assistance to the English no resource had been left, not 
even a retreat for the French army, nor probably for the 
King and the Dauphin.' 

Had either of the flank attacks succeeded the English 
chances would have been excellent. But the strength of 
the French position lay in their forts, and not one of the 



a.d. 1745 Campaign of Fontenoy. 137 

forts fell into the hands of the allies. In spite of their 
success the English column was driven back 
and the battle lost. A column was the best vance was 
formation for this famous advance because met- 
the artillery were on each side of it, and it was necessary 
that the smallest surface should be presented as a mark 
to the guns. Now the French brought artillery full ahead 
of the column, and able to play along its whole length ; 
the destruction became terrible. Then followed a general 
rally of the whole of the French troops and a simul- 
taneous charge on the column from all quarters. 
The following is the account of an eye-witness : — 
' The Marshal had commanded that the cavahy should 
touch the English with their horses' breasts ; he was 
obeyed. Officers of the King's chamber charged 
pell-mell with guards and musketeers ; the witness's 
King's pages were there sword in hand. So account - 
perfect was the time observed, so perfect the courage 
so unanimous was the indignation against the repulses 
they had suffered, so exact the concert— the cavalry 

with drawn swords, the infantry with fixed bayonets ■ 

that the English column was shattered and disap- 
peared.' As the English retreated from the field their 
rear was protected by their cavalry. The total English 
loss was 9,000 — 7,000 killed and wounded, 2,000 prisoners. 
The column had consisted of 16,000 men. Voltaire gives 
an account how the suggestion was made to the Marshal 
of these movements which brought victory to the French ; 
but other and later writers, jealous for the honour of the 
general, deny that he was taken aback or accepted sug- 
gestions from others. Some even think that he allowed 
the English column to advance as into a trap in order 
that the defeat might be the more complete. It was a 
repetition of an old story. The English fought bravely, 
but were not well led. The youthful Cumberland (he was 



138 The Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1745 

only twenty-four) could not make the allies work, and 
the brave advance was thrown away because it was not 
supported. It must, however, be remembered that the 
ground between Antoine and Fontenoy was fortified, 
whilst there was no fort between Fontenoy and the 
wood. 

One point remains to be mentioned. Amongst the 
most gallant troops of the French army was the Irish 
Irish at Brigade. This force, consisting of some five 
Fontenoy. regiments, was composed of Irish exiles, 
Jacobites to a man, and full of deadly hostility against 
England and the English Government. A portion of 
this brigade had in the earlier part of the battle helped 
to defend Antoine against the Dutch. The remainder 
had been comparatively inactive, and on account of their 
freshness were chosen to head the final charge on the 
English and Hanoverian column. The Irish Brigade 
is said to have advanced to the tune of ' The White 
Cockade.' This is the badge at the same time of the 
House of Stuart and of the House of Bourbon, which 
befriended the Stuarts. Shouting in their own language, 
' Remember Limerick and Saxon treachery,' the exiles 
rushed upon the English column, which contained many 
of their own kin. There was all the fury of civil war in 
this deadly struggle on foreign soil. This was the charge 
which decided the fortune of the day, and it is with truth 
that in later days a great Irish orator (Grattan) remarked, 
' We met our own laws at Fontenoy. The victorious 
troops of England were stopped in their career of 
triumph by the Irish Brigade, which the folly of the 
penal laws had shut out from the ranks of the British 
army.' King George is said on hearing of the Irish 
bravery to have exclaimed, ' Cursed be the laws which 
deprive me of such subjects ! ' 



a. d. 1745 The Forty -five. 139 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE FORTY-FIVE. 

One of the strongest reasons that Sir Robert Walpole 
gave for his urgent wish that England should remain at 
peace was the security of the crown in the , y , , 
House of Brunswick. He maintained that if prophesies 
the nation was at war a good opportunity 
would be offered to the supporters of the House of Stuart, 
who, ever on the look-out for an advantage, would not 
fail to use it. Walpole did not live to see his prophecy 
fulfilled, although he died only a few months before its 
fulfilment. In 1745 Robert Walpole, Earl of Orford, 
died in March ; in May came the defeat at Fontenoy ; 
before July was ended the young Pretender had landed 
in Scotland. Had Walpole lived a little more than four 
months longer he would have seen a rebellion begin 
which seemed to be about to shatter his life's work. Had 
he lived two years longer he would have seen in its 
defeat that his labours had not been in vain. 

In order to embarrass the English Government the 
French ministers summoned the Young Pretender from 
Rome in order that they might concert with The Young 
him measures for an invasion of England. It Pretender- 
may be as well to give some account of this hero of 
romance, who, like his father, was known by different 
names according to the views of those who spoke of him. 
Supporters of the established government in England 
called him the ' Young Pretender ' ; his friends gave him 
the title ' Prince of Wales ' ; and those who wished to be 
perfectly neutral knew him by the name of the ' Young 
Chevalier.' 

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140 



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a.d. 1745 The Forty -five. 141 

the Old Pretender, or Chevalier de St. George, the James 
Francis Edward whose birth in the year of 
the English Revolution had so marked an 
effect in bringing that revolution about, and who made 
the unsuccessful attempt to obtain the crown of Great 
Britain in 171 5. The advisers of this defeated prince 
urged him to marry in order that the House of Stuart 
might not become extinct with him. 

The lady that they selected for his hand was Princess 
Mary Clementina Sobieski, granddaughter of the heroic 
warrior-king of Poland, one of the wealthiest 

, • -r- t. -i His mother. 

heiresses in Europe. It was necessary that 
this young princess, who at the time of her marriage 
could not have been more than seventeen and a half, 
should pass through the Austrian territory to Italy in 
order that the marriage might there take place. Whilst 
she was on the road the Government of the Emperor, 
being anxious to do the English a pleasure, because the 
support of England to his policy was of the utmost im- 
portance to him, caused the lady to be stopped on her 
journey and kept in a convent at Innsbruck, in the Tyrol. 
But the young princess, evidently a brave and spirited 
woman worthy of her origin, managed to escape. On 
arrival at Bologna, in Italy, the marriage ceremony was 
performed, the husband being represented, as princes 
often are, by proxy, for James was in Spain helping for- 
ward the abortive Alberoni attempt. When that had 
completely failed he returned to Italy. 

The young Chevalier was born in Rome on the last 
day of the year 1720, whilst England was in great distress 
after the bursting of the South Sea Bubble. Hiseduca- 
He was thus under twenty-five at the time of tlon - 
his famous attempt, called after the year, 'the Forty-five.' 
His father had been very little older at the time of his 
equally unsuccessful effort thirty years previous. The 



142 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1745 

young man was in many ways well suited for the part he 
was about to play ; for he was vigorous and athletic, 
having deliberately trained himself to bear fatigue, whilst 
his manners were courteous and winning. His features 
were handsome and he had blue eyes. Unfortunately he 
was badly educated ; for instance, his spelling was atro- 
cious. Less importance was attached to spelling in 
former days than now, but ' sord ' for sword, and ' gems ' 
for his father's name, James, pass any fair allowance. 
Though he was of a frank, generous disposition, he had, 
as a matter of course, been brought up in the absurd pre- 
dilection for arbitrary government, which had brought 
his family to ruin. Of course, also, like his father and 
grandfather, he was a Roman Catholic. As the father 
was still under sixty, and was looked upon by the 
Jacobites as king, it is curious that he should not have 
placed himself at the head of his followers on the occasion 
of this last attempt which they made to recover for him 
the throne of his ancestors ; but continued failure chills 
the blood more than age, and it was thought better that 
the new effort should be made entirely by one whom no 
failure had discredited. 

Moreover there was a marked contrast between the 
Old and the Young Pretenders in spirit and in fitness to 
Contrast be- inspire an enterprise. There has been much 
and e Young disputing about the characters of each of these 
Pretenders, claimants to the crown. Probably neither 
was deficient in personal courage, but the father lacked 
resolution, and had, except with reference to his own 
claims, a vacillating mind as well as a melancholy dis- 
position ; whereas the son showed the dashing bravery 
of a true Highlander, happier in attack than in defence, 
and had an elastic gaiety of spirit ever brighter when 
clouds were darkest. Both had been brought up in 
exile, constantly cherishing hopes doomed to disappoint- 



a.d. 1745 The Forty-five. 143 

ment. If we seek for an explanation of the difference 
between them perhaps we may find it in the Sobieski 
descent of the younger. It is important to notice this 
strain in him. John Sobieski was a Polish noble elected 
to the crown of Poland because of his prowess as a 
general. With 20,000 men he had fought an army of 
Cossacks and Tartars five times as large. The fight- 
ing was said to have lasted seventeen days, but at the 
end of it Sobieski had beaten back the invaders and 
saved his country. His greatest achievement was against 
the Turks. The Emperor had refused to acknowledge 
him as King of Poland, but when the Turks came in 
hordes against the empire the humbled Emperor sued 
to Poland, as to the other Christian powers, for help. 
At first Sobieski declined, but he was too chivalrous to 
see a Christian nation overwhelmed by the enemy of 
their common Christianity. The Turkish host had 
reached and was besieging Vienna when Sobieski ap- 
peared, mastered the Turkish camp, and drove the army 
back to the frontiers. A most magnanimous, high-souled 
king, full of desire for his people's good, Sobieski was 
yet unable to bring order out of anarchy in Poland and 
the Polish Government. This king was great-grandfather 
of Charles Edward, in whom the ancestor's heroism 
reappears. 

The Jacobites naturally selected for their attempt the 
time when there was war between Great Britain and 
France. The young prince was summoned . , 

. ° r . Army under 

from Rome, which he left secretly as if he Marshal 
were starting to hunt, and by travelling swiftly 
escaped any attempt at capture, although it is said that 
the ship in which he sailed ran through the English fleet 
in the Mediterranean. The French were prepared to 
throw upon the English coast a force of 15,000 men, and 
an army of that number was being got ready upon the 



144 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1745 

opposite shore under the celebrated Marshal Saxe. 
Such a force required a considerable number of trans- 
ports, but the appearance of the English fleet, and the 
opportune occurrence of a storm with the wind blowing 
straight on the French coast, put a complete stop to the 
expedition. Many of the transports were driven ashore. 
It seemed as if the elements were fighting on behalf of 
England, as the winds had helped to dissipate the Invin- 
cible Armada. ' Decidedly,' wrote Marshal Saxe to a 
friend, 'the winds are not Jacobite.' It is fortunate that 
they were not, for Marshal Saxe was a great general, and 
had under him trained and war-tried soldiers, whilst 
England had no commander to set against him, and her 
best troops were on the continent. 

After this mishap the French ministers were reluc- 
tant to give any further help ; but with or without French 
help Charles Edward was determined to make 
help from his attempt. After the defeat at Fontenoy, as 
Charles England seemed to have need of her soldiers 
Edward n the continent, the opportunity seemed to 
offer itself. The Prince embarked in the 
Doutelle,' a small sloop that had been fitted out as a 
privateer, whilst there went as convoy a French man-of- 
war, apparently procured without the direct sanction of 
the French ministers. An English ship of war met the 
pair, and engaging the French vessel wrought it so much 
harm that it was compelled to put back to a French har- 
bour to refit. The other vessel slipped away and reached 
the Hebrides. On July 25, at Moidart, the south-western 
corner of Inverness-shire, the Prince landed, accompanied 
by seven devoted followers, afterwards known as the 
' seven men of Moidart.' 

At the time of this famous landing everyone would 
have predicted speedy discomfiture. To those who had 
eyes to see it seemed doubtful if even the Highlanders 



a.d. 1745 The Forty -five. 145 

could be induced to rise in so hopeless an attempt, and 
certain that, if the Highlanders hazarded their Poor pr0 
lives through zeal for the House of Stuart, spects. 
no one else would join them ; whilst it was also clear 
that the Highlanders, unsupported, could avail nought 
against the strength of England. The ablest and 
most influential of the Highland chiefs themselves saw 
this clearly, but enthusiasm and loyalty prevailed over 
their good judgment. Cameron of Lochiel endeavoured 
to dissuade the Prince. His brother advised him to write 
his opinion, and not to trust himself within the fascination 
of the Piince's presence ; but unluckily for him the ad- 
vice was not followed. 

The end of the interview is thus described : ' In a 
few days,' said the Prince, ' with the few friends that I 
have, I will erect the royal standard, and pro- 
claim to the people of Britain that Charles 
Stuart is come over to claim the crown of his ances- 
tors, to win it or to perish in the attempt. Lochiel, who, 
my father has often told me, was our firmest friend, may 
stay at home, and learn from the newspapers the fate of 
his prince.' ' No ! ' said Lochiel, ' I will share the fate 
of my prince ; and so shall every man over whom nature 
or fortune hath given me any power.' Thus Lochiel 
cast in his lot with what he called i this rash undertaking,' 
and it was generally believed that if he had kept aloof 
from it the other chiefs would not have joined. 

On August 19, in a romantic narrow valley called 
Glenhnnin, took place the ceremony of raising the stand- 
ard. An old marquis, who had been exiled R a ; s ; no . of 
for his part in the Fifteen, one of the seven standard. 
men of Moidart, performed the ceremony. So infirm 
was he from age that, whilst handling the big banner of 
red silk with a white centre, he had to be supported by 
a man on each side. Loud cheers, loud music of the 

M. H. L 



146 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1745 

bagpipes greeted the flag. Bonnets were thrown into 
the air. Then was read the manifesto of the Prince's 
father, and the commission of regency which entitled the 
Prince to represent him ; and the scene concluded with 
a stirring speech from the young man himself. ' He had 
come for the happiness of his people, chose Scotland as 
his starting-point because he knew he should find brave 
gentlemen zealous for their own honour and the rights 
of their sovereign, and as willing to live and die with him 
as he was willing at their head to shed the last drop ot 
his blood.' 

All this was calculated to rouse enthusiasm. More 
and more joined his camp, and in a few days the seven 
Prospects na d t> ecome 1,600, all animated with the same 
improve, feeling of love and loyalty for their chivalrous 
young prince, and of zeal for his cause. No hope of 
gain lay before them, and any selfish reasoning would 
have made them stay at home. 

Meanwhile the English Government seemed to be 

hardly aware of the importance of the insurrection, and 

Sir Tohn were slow in taking measures against it. The 

Cope. general commanding the forces in Scotland 

was Sir John Cope, not by any means a coward in the 

sense of having any personal fear of danger, but afraid 

of responsibility ; fit to be a subordinate, quite unfit to 

be in command. On the very day of the raising of the 

standard Sir John Cope marched to meet the rebels. 

Heedless that this involved a march into the mountains, 

the English general started with two regiments of 

dragoons, about 1,500 infantry, and a large number of 

spare muskets, intended for loyal volunteers who, he 

expected, would apply for arms ; but the volunteers did 

not appear, and the muskets were soon sent back. It 

became manifest also that the cavalry would be of no 

use in the hill country, and they were left behind at 



a.d. 1745 The Forty -five. 147 

Stirling. All this betrays want of information ; but even 
without the expected volunteers and the cavalry Cope 
had as many men as the Chevalier. Finding, however, 
that the latter had the better position on a steep and 
almost impregnable mountain pass called the Devil's 
Staircase, Cope determined, after consulting a council of 
war, to march off to Inverness. The general's great 
mistake had been made earlier. He ought never to 
have advanced into the mountains at all, for to do so 
was to meet the Highlanders on their own ground. To 
the council of war three courses lay open : to remain 
and fight, to retreat, or to turn off to the right and 
march to Inverness. Had the first course been adopted, 
the defeat at Prestonpans would have been anticipated. 
Either of the two latter courses would give hope to the 
insurgents ; but it may fairly be accepted that it was 
policy, not cowardice, that made Cope march to Inver- 
ness. Believing that many of the Scotch clans in the 
Pretender's rear were loyal, he wished to reach and arm 
them ; but it escaped his notice that, excepting the two 
regiments of dragoons, he had left no troops to guard 
Edinburgh. 

These dragoons retreated before the Pretender's 
advance, and when they were within a mile or two of 
the cit) 7 , at sight of an advanced guard of Charles 
the Highlanders, were seized with a disgrace- Arches on 
ful panic, and galloped through Edinburgh. Edinburgh. 
This gallop was nicknamed the ' Canter of Coltbrigg,' 
the Colt Bridge over the Leith water being the starting- 
point of their race : its goal was many miles on the 
further side of Edinburgh. The Edinburgh volunteers 
were called out and gathered in considerable numbers, 
but on the order being given to march out of the gates, 
the companies were found to have melted away. When 
the defenders were of such a character, there is no cause 



148 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1745 

for wonder that Prince Charles was able to enter Edin- 
burgh, solemnly to take possession of Holyrood Palace, 
give a splendid ball, and cause his father to be pro- 
claimed as king at the City Cross. Though Edinburgh 
was taken, the castle, which was strongly defended, 
remained in the hands of King George's men. The 
soldiers proposed to fire into the streets of the city, but 
such a course would only have done mischief and no 
good. Prince Charles found in Edinburgh a thousand 
muskets which the volunteers, having no further use for 
them, had returned to store, and he made a requisition 
on the magistrates for tents and other military appli- 
ances, including 6,000 pairs of shoes. These men who 
had taken the capital of Scotland were many of them 
unshod, all badly armed, some only with a scythe or a 
pitchfork. Their discipline was admirable : there was no 
plundering, no drunkenness. 

Meanwhile General Cope was anxious again to place 

himself and his troops between Prince Charles and 

England. He embarked at Aberdeen and. 

Cope re- . 

turns. Pres- having brought them by ship to Dunbar, 
tonpans. marched towards Edinburgh. The Prince, 
ever ready for the fight, moved his army forward from 
the city, and was with difficulty prevented from leading 
the van himself. Then followed the battle of Preston- 
pans. Cope drew up his men awkwardly ; the cavalry, 
being the dragoons that had already run away, were 
divided, one regiment on each wing ; the artillery also 
was divided ; the infantry were in the centre, imme- 
diately in front of a stone park-wall twelve feet high. 
All along the front lay a morass which seemed impossible 
to cross, and for one night the two armies lay separated 
in this way, the Highlanders eager to attack, fretting at 
the obstacle, Cope anxious only for defence and glad to 
have the morass in front of him. During the night, 



a.d. 1745 The Forty -five. 149 

however, a gentleman of the neighbourhood who had 
joined the Pretender thought of a path by which his 
army might be led round. In the early morning, a mist 
still covering the whole battle-field, the Highlanders 
followed this path, and when the rising sun drove away 
the mist, Sir John Cope's troops saw to their surprise 
the Highlanders over against them to the east. Leaving 
time only for the saying of a short prayer, the High- 
landers rapidly advanced, the bagpipes playing and the 
men yelling. The sudden attack, the strange appear- 
ance of the foe, the loud pipes, the discordant yells, were 
enough to frighten the English troops, who turned and 
fled. In about seven minutes all the English soldiers, 
with a very few exceptions, were in full flight and in 
different directions. Sir John Cope tried to rally them, 
but was obliged to lead their hasty retreat, or, in other 
words, their flight. On arriving at Berwick he was told 
that he was the first general who had come with the 
news of his own defeat. ' Hey, Johnnie Cope, are ye 
waking yet ? ' is the refrain of a ballad very popular m 
Scotland for many years to come. 

Amongst the exceptions should be mentioned Colonel 
Gardiner, the commander of a regiment of dragoons, 
who on the previous day had urged General c i one i 
Cope to take more vigorous steps. Gardiner Gardiner. 
had first gallantly, though fruitlessly, tried to lead his 
own men to the charge, and in so doing was wounded. 
After the flight of the cavalry, seeing a cluster of infantry 
making a stand, with the words ' Those brave fellows 
will be cut to pieces for want of a commander,' he 
rode up to them, and cried out loud, ' Fire on, my lads, 
and fear nothing.' ' But just as the words were out of 
his mouth,' says his biographer, 'a Highlander advanced 
towards him with a scythe fastened to a long pole, with 
which he gave him such a deep wound on his right arm 



150 The Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1745 

that his sword dropped from his hand ; and others 
coming about him, while he was thus dreadfully en- 
tangled with that cruel weapon, he was dragged off from 
his horse.' He received another wound, from which in 
the course of the morning he died. Curiously enough, 
the encounter took place at the gate of Gardiner's own 
park. The biography of this brave soldier was famous 
because, having lived a gay and licentious life, he 
suddenly changed, becoming serious and pious. He 
asserted that the sudden conversion was produced by a 
vision of our Lord upon the cross. 

It is evident that Cope was not a great general ; but 

how are we to account for the conduct of the men, for 

the English troops were reckoned amongst 

Reasons of 

English de- the bravest m Europe? They had been badly 
led. The men remembered that Cope, march- 
ing northwards, had avoided the Chevalier ; they could 
see from the disposition which he made that Cope was 
not eager for the fight. The troops were too much 
cooped up, and there was no room for the cavalry. But 
the more real reason was the entire strangeness of the 
Highlanders. Their appearance and strange equipment, 
the bagpipes, the yells, their unusual way of fighting, 
caused a complete panic. Highlanders make the best 
soldiers in the world for a battle, though unless under very 
thorough discipline they are not good for a campaign. 
A Highland charge is well nigh irresistible. Now-a-days 
English and Scotch know each other well : but then the 
Highlander was but little known, and his English felloAv 
subjects and even the Lowland Scotch regarded him as 
a savage or barbarian. Children were concealed at the 
Highlander's approach for fear he should eat them ! No 
doubt the appearance of the ' wild petticoat men,' as the 
wearers of the kilt were called, was very terrible and 
startling to a Southron. Poor, and in consequence badly 



a. d. 1745 The Forty -five. 151 

clad and badly equipped, they had not the look of regular 
soldiers. But the men were better than they looked, and 
throughout this trying time kept good discipline, especi- 
ally as long as they were victorious. The Highlanders 
were very ignorant of many things which Southrons 
enjoyed. One Highlander sold a watch cheap because, 
not being wound up, it had ceased to go : he called it £ a 
dead beast.' Others sold chocolate found in the general's 
baggage as ' Johnnie Cope's salve.' The story was told 
how some Highlanders had forgotten themselves so far 
as to threaten respectable citizens, levelling weapons at 
them, and had then only made the moderate demand for 
a penny. 

After the battle of Preston, or Prestonpans, as, in 
order to distinguish it from the battle in the Fifteen, it is 
more commonly called, though the fight was nearer to 
the former than the latter village, the Prince marched 
back to Edinburgh, where he was received with acclama- 
tion. One distinguished exception was an old Presby- 
terian clergyman, who not only continued to pray for 
King George, but added this petition to his prayer : ' As 
to this young person who has come among us seeking 
an earthly crown, do Thou, in Thy merciful favour, give 
him a heavenly one.' It is to Charles's credit that the 
septuagenarian minister was left unmolested. 

Nothing succeeds like success, and almost all Scot- 
land now appeared to be on his side. The castles of 
Edinburgh and Stirling and the forts in the Scotland 
north garrisoned with English troops seemed secured, 

11 1 -i r% r* m Charles Ed- 

all that remained true to King George, i hose ward starts 

who were not Jacobites held their peace. For for Londoru 

forty days the Prince was in Edinburgh consolidating 

his power, organising the new troops that joined him, 

levying money, and generally ordering his affairs ; and 

on October 31 he left Edinburgh on march for London. 



152 The Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1745 

There are many who think that the Prince should have 
proceeded straight from the battle-field towards England, 
as there are many who think Hannibal should have 
marched upon Rome immediately after Cannae. This 
delay certainly helped the Chevalier. Had he marched 
at once, it would have been with a much smaller army. 
Whenever he held a council he found that the opinions 
were in favour of delay. His councillors pointed out that 
one defeat meant ruin to the cause. Wait for more to 
join, wait for help from France, was the burden of their 
advice, which was wormwood to the young Prince. ' I 
see, gentlemen,' at length he said, ' you are determined 
to stay in Scotland and defend your country ; but I am 
not less resolved to try my fate in England, though I 
should go alone.' An English army under Marshal 
Wade was awaiting him in Northumberland, and the 
Prince, trusting in the dash of his Highlanders, was 
most anxious for a battle. It was well known that W T ade, 
once an officer of great vigour and judgment, was grow- 
ing old, and had lost much of his energy. As a compro- 
mise between the Prince's wish to march forward to 
instant battle, and the councillors' desire to avoid a battle, 
it was determined to invade England on the West. 

In marching from Edinburgh into England the 

Prince had a choice of two main routes, by the east or 

rorl -i the west coast, through Berwick or through 

v^arlis e to o 

route. Carlisle. Had the invasion been made by 

Berwick and Northumberland, an early battle with 
Wade's army would have been inevitable. Between the 
two routes there is the formidable mountain range called 
the Pennine chain, which forms the backbone or dividing 
range of England. The northern part of the other route 
was comparatively undefended, and it would have been 
difficult for even a more vigorous general than Wade to 
cross. 



a. d. 1745 The Forty -five. 153 

Carlisle was the first English town to see the High- 
land army, and Carlisle, having a specially valiant mayor, 
determined to resist ; but after two days, at Southward 
sight of trenches and siege operations, Carlisle march, 
capitulated. Though perpetually met with advice to re- 
treat into Scotland, the Prince advanced to Lancaster, 
and to Preston. Many of the Highlanders did not relish 
the march into England, and the army had already begun 
to display that want of cohesion which marks a High- 
land army. Many deserters had already dropped off; 
indeed it was reckoned that the force had diminished 
from 5,500 to 4,500 before Carlisle was reached. As 
Preston, in Lancashire, had been the scene of the defeat 
thirty years previously, the town was approached with 
an almost superstitious feeling that it would be the limit 
of the advance southwards. Hitherto hardly anyone 
in England had joined the Prince. At Preston cheers 
were raised for him ; at the Lancashire towns, that were 
just beginning to be the seat of the cotton trade, the 
enthusiasm seemed to increase, until at Manchester a 
small regiment was raised on the Prince's behalf. From 
Manchester the army marched on to Derby. 

A second English army had its head-quarters at 
Lichfield, under the Duke of Cumberland. Wade had 
been marching southwards upon the other side p repa rations 
of the hills, and was perhaps two days' march i n England. 
to the rear. At Derby the hills cease to be any obstacle, 
and there the small Highland force lay between two 
English armies, each of which was numerically stronger. 
Meanwhile, there was no sign of any rising in England to 
help the invaders. The English Jacobites looked on in 
amazement, and waited to see the result of this bold 
venture. The Prince was now as ever for boldness, still 
in favour of continuing the march on London, and at 
table at Derby he discussed the question how he should 



154 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1745 

enter London, on horseback or on foot, in Highland or 
in Lowland garb. Derby is only 127 miles from London, 
and by quick marches he could have kept ahead both of 
Wade and Cumberland. George II. was gathering upon 
Finchley Common a third army, with the Guards for a 
nucleus, and this he was to command in person ; this 
army, however, was not ready, but in course of formation. 
The Prince hoped that a victory won, perhaps on Finchley 
Common, might have the same effect on the metropolis 
of England that the victory at Prestonpans had on 
Edinburgh ; but he would have found George a very 
different antagonist from Cope, and London much less 
disposed to be friendly than Edinburgh, whilst behind 
him he would have had two powerful armies close at his 
heels. 

Those who like to conjecture what might have been 
are of opinion that, had the Chevalier's wish been granted, 
and the march continued to Derby, he would 
have recovered for his father the throne of his 
ancestors ; but they are also of opinion that neither his 
father nor he could have maintained it. This is, however, 
nothing more than conjecture. Charles Edward never 
marched to London, because his officers, more cautious 
than himself, and understanding better the dangers of 
the position, insisted upon retreat from Derby. Long 
and strenuously did he contend against their advice : 
' Rather than go back, I would wish to be twenty feet 
underground ! ' But neither the Prince's warmth in the 
council of war nor his most earnest private entreaties 
could persuade the leading officers, and at length he was 
compelled to give a sullen consent to the retreat. Little 
wonder that the young man felt the blow ; the com- 
mencement of the retreat on December 6 was the turning 
point of his fortunes. In the southward march the 
Prince is described as surrendering his private carriage 



a. d. 1745 The Forty -five. 155 

to a follower in feeble health, and himself gaily march- 
ing on foot at the head of the clans, talking and laughing 
with the men, venturing on a few words of Gaelic. 
On the retreat he was always in the rear, riding dejectedly, 
all his gay spirits gone, often delaying the column, which 
would wait for him to come up. The feeling of the men 
was in harmony with that of the Prince. They were 
distressed and indignant at the idea of retreat, for they 
had counted upon certain victory. Subsequent history 
shows us that the Prince and the men were right, the 
chief officers wrong. Whatever chance of ultimate suc- 
cess the insurgents of the Forty-five ever had, that chance 
was lost. The whole expedition has been compared to the 
act of a gambler staking all on one throw ; but the gambler 
who hesitates is lost. 

The news of the retreat was an intense relief to 
England, or rather to the English Government. In 
London there had been a panic. The day on Re u ef felt ■ 
which the news of the Highland army's arrival England. 
at Derby was known in the city was long remembered 
as Black Friday. A run was made on the Bank of 
England, but the directors, by the expedient of paying 
their own clerks and paying in sixpences, procured delay 
for themselves, and avoided any fatal results. Indiffer- 
ence was, however, a commoner feeling than 
fear. The people generally seemed to regard 
the contest for the crown as one in which they had no 
part. Mr. Gray, a travelled man of letters, soon to be 
known as a poet, wrote two months later to a friend from 
Cambridge, where doubtless there were Jacobites, though 
there would be more at Oxford : — 

' The common people, "in town at least, know how to 
be afraid, but we are such uncommon people here as to 
have no more sense of danger than if the battle (Falkirk) 
had been fought where and when the battle of Cannae 



156 T J le Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1745 

was. I heard three sensible, middle-aged men, when 
the Scotch were said to be at Stamford, and actually were 
at Derby, talking of hiring a chaise to go to Caxton (a place 
on the high-road) to see the Pretender and Highlanders 
as they passed.' 

In times of widespread and earnest loyalty, and under 
a popular sovereign, it is a little difficult for us to con- 
ceive the utter indifference of many people in England on 
the subject of the rebellion. Their feeling was doubtless 
well expressed in the witty epigram : 

God bless (no harm in blessing !) the Pretender. 
Which the Pretender is, and which the King, 
God bless us all, that's quite another thing. 

The Duke of Cumberland followed with his dragoons 
after the retreating Highlanders. At the village of Clif- 
Sldrmish at ton > near Penrith, a skirmish took place in 
Clifton. which the English were repulsed with con- 

siderable loss. This skirmish has the honour of being 
the last battle fought on the soil of England. On 
December 20 the Prince, leaving a small garrison in Car- 
lisle, withdrew the main body of his troops, who re-entered 
their own country just six weeks after they had left it. 
The distance marched from the Scotch border to Derby 
is about 185 miles. 

If the French ministers had seized the opportunity 
to make an invasion of England in force, whilst Charles 
No French Ed ward was still advancing, the situation of 
force came, the English Government would have been 
even more critical. But when the turn came and the 
retreat took place, the French armament was still in 
preparation at Dunkirk. Indeed, the news of the 
retreat caused the stage of preparation never to be 
passed, though Cumberland and his troops were sum- 
moned to the south coast of England to face the French 
force. 



a. d. 1746 The Forty-five. 157 

The command against the rebels was taken from the 
aged Wade and entrusted to General Hawley, a rough 
and brutal soldier, violent of temper, cruel, Hawley in 
hated by his own men, and trained in the Scotland. 
worst traditions of the continental war. Hawley was 
full of sneers against Cope, and of boasts that with two 
regiments of dragoons he could ride over the Highland 
army. The first care of the general was to erect gibbets 
in Edinburgh for rebels who should fall into his hands. 
Whilst the Prince had gained nothing by the advance 
into England, his cause had through his absence lost 
ground in Scotland ; the complete ascendency of his 
friends which prevailed after Prestonpans now disap- 
peared. 

The Prince encamped his army on the field of 
Bannockburn ; he said it would be a good omen to the 
Scotch cause to fight the battle there. Two Kattle of 
nights and days he waited, but Hawley Falkirk. 
came not. Then, determined to bring on. the fight,, 
the Scotch marched forwards. General Hawley was 
being most hospitably entertained by a lady of the 
neighbourhood, whose husband was with the rebel 
army, and who had on that account done her utmost 
by hospitality to detain the English general. Probably 
through contempt for his foe, whom he was fond of 
describing as a Highland rabble, Hawley had sent out 
no patrols and had no information as to their move- 
ments. On the right of the English the rebels had 
made with all their cavalry a feint of an attack, and those 
in the camp thought the attack would come from this 
side, when it was found that the main body of Highlanders 
were advancing on the other side. Hawley galloped 
out now, breathless and without his hat, and at once 
ordered the dragoons to advance with him. Between 
him and the rebels lay Falkirk Moor, a lofty rugged heath. 



158 T lie Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1746 

It was a race between the Highlanders and Hawley's 
dragoons, but a race which the latter won ; and, taking 
advantage of their better position, charged. It was un- 
fortunate for Hawley that two out of three dragoon regi- 
ments which he had were the regiments that had fled 
in the Canter of Coltbrigg and at Prestonpans. It was 
bad management to keep these men in the field against 
the Scotch. The Highlanders with the utmost coolness 
reserved their fire until the cavalry were within ten yards 
of them, and then gave a tremendous volley. This had 
the effect of breaking the line ; those horsemen who per- 
severed were pulled from their horses, whilst the horses 
were stabbed by the Highland dirks. Meanwhile a violent 
storm of wind and heavy rain came on driving full in the 
faces of Hawley's infantry. All the centre and left were 
defeated, but on the right, owing to the fact that the 
troops were fresh, better commanded, and better placed, 
the English had the best of it. They were behind a 
ravine in such fashion that the Scotch could not charge 
across it. On this wing .many Highlanders fled, so that 
to some extent the battle of Sherifhnuir was being re- 
peated in the different issue on the two wings, but the 
second line of the Scotch coining up checked the advance 
of the English right. That night the English retreated 
from Falkirk, which the Prince occupied ; but once 
more mortification was in store for the Prince, once more 
there came a blow from his best friends. 

Twice victorious, never as yet defeated, and only 
successfully resisted by very strong fortresses, a second 
After the time was tn i s unfortunate prince compelled 
victory. to retreat. The English troops were unable 
to conquer the brave little Highland army ; but that 
army was so small that it could not hold a district of any 
extent ; and, besides the fact that it was small, it had the 
fatal tendency to dwindle. The victorious Highlanders 



a. d. 1746 The Forty-five. 159 

went off to carry home their booty. After his experience 
at Derby the Prince would hold no more councils, but 
the officers met and sent a memorial to the Prince 
pointing out that the only way to extricate the army from 
its imminent danger was to march into the Highlands, 
master the forts, and in the spring, collecting a larger 
army, issue forth again. The Prince was in despair, but 
was forced once more to yield ; but on this £ etreat 
occasion as at the retreat from Derby the northwards. 
Prince was right, his advisers wrong. There is nothing 
left but to describe the final scenes of this romantic 
episode in history. 

The son of the Pretender was to be faced by the 
son of the King. The news of Falkirk arrived in Lon- 
don on the day of a royal drawing-room, at Arrival of 
which it was said every face was overwhelmed Cumberland, 
with consternation, except that of the King, too brave to 
show fear, and that of Sir John Cope, who felt that his 
own defeat was now eclipsed. It was at once determined 
to send the Duke of Cumberland into Scotland. He 
was a few years younger than Charles Edward. Full of 
energy, esteemed by the army for the bravery he had 
shown at Fontenoy, he might fairly be expected to bring 
with him zeal for his father's house, and to let the Scotch 
see that this rebellion was no longer despised as unim- 
portant. The Duke came to Scotland in the nick of time 
for success. On January 30 he slept in Holyrood Palace, 
and it was noticed that the day was of ill omen for 
the house of Stuart. Next day he set out against the 
enemy, but on February 1, the Prince, compelled by the 
memorial of his officers, broke up his camp before 
Stirling and commenced, more than ever dejected and 
miserable, his northward retreat. Some advisers told 
Cumberland that a battle would not be necessary, for 
that the Highland army, following its usual habits, would 



160 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1746 

of itself disperse ; but as others assured him that a nucleus 
would still remain together, the Duke determined to 
follow, but slowly and with an overpowering force. A 
large body of Hessian troops came up to Edinburgh, 
the inhabitants of which town are said to have found 
them better behaved than the English soldiers, and even 
to have imitated them in their taste in snuff. By leaving 
these troops in garrison, Cumberland was able to take 
more English regiments with him. The English navy, 
too, was more upon the alert, and succeeded in cutting 
off some French cavalry whom arrangements were just 
made to disembark from the ships which had brought 
them from France. The Duke now advanced slowly 
towards the north, fixing his headquarters first at Perth, 
and afterwards at Aberdeen. Meantime the Highland 
army was in a terrible plight. The Prince had no money 
and was obliged to pay his soldiers in meal, whilst even 
of meal the supply was scant. When his troops were 
camped on Culloden Moor, one of the officers said that 
the heath 'served both for bedding and fuel, the cold 
being very severe.' Moreover, the schism between 
Charles and his chief officers which had been earlier 
shown at the two retreats, as well as the jealousies of the 
clans, were on the increase. Welcome was the news 
that Cumberland was nigh and battle impending. 

Culloden, or, as it was more properly called, Drum- 
mossie Moor, is a high table-land lying about five miles 
to the east of Inverness. On the part of Prince 
Charles it was most unwisely selected as a 
battlefield, for, being level, it offered good scope for 
artillery and for cavalry, and in these two arms the Eng- 
lish were strong, the Prince very weak. From previous 
experience the Prince had naturally great confidence in 
the effects of a charge of his Highlanders. Weary of 
delay, he probably felt himself as sure of victory as at 



a.d. 1746. The Forty -five. 161 

Prestonpans and thought such a victory was needed for 
his cause. But the circumstances were different. Troops 
in better discipline, and a general with fresher knowledge, 
were opposed to him, whilst his own army had suffered 
the discouragement of retreat. 

As Cumberland advanced from Aberdeen, Charles to 
meet him isssued forth from Inverness, a place of great 
importance to him, often called the capital of 
the Highlands. Knowing that in attack rather 
than defence lay the Highlanders' strength, Charles and 
his officers agreed upon a scheme for a night attack upon 
the Duke's camp. But the men were exhausted by 
fatigue, starvation and cold, and not in case like those 
who had charged at Prestonpans or gaily marched to 
Derby. Some dispersed in search of food ; some dropped 
out of the ranks, the night being very dark ; the march 
was delayed, and day dawned before the attack could 
be made. The dispirited troops fell back, in the early 
morning (of April 16), upon Culloden Moor. The Prince 
rejected the advice to retreat into the hill country ; trust- 
ing in the valour of his men, which had never failed him, 
he would not avoid a battle. He had not, however, made 
sufficient allowance for the physical exhaustion of his 
men. One ' sea biscuit to each man ' was the only pro- 
vision for his army on the day before the battle. The 
Duke, it is true, said his own men would fight more 
actively with empty bellies, but the difference was be- 
tween men generally starved and men kept waiting for 
their breakfast. It may be added that the battle was 
fought between men who had been up all night and men 
who had had their usual sleep. The Chevalier's army was 
diminished by the desertion of stragglers in search of 
food or rest, and certainly in the battle that followed 
Cumberland's army was nearly double that of his oppo- 
nent. A spirited address from Cumberland animated 

M. H. M 



1 62 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1746. 

his army for the fight ; he begged all who did not want 
to face the Highlanders to withdraw, and he was answered 
by the men with shouts of ' Flanders ! ' The Duke took 
up his position on a large boulder a quarter of mile in the 
rear of his army. The battle began with the artillery. 
The English guns were well served and did such execu- 
tion upon the Highlanders that, unable to stand the fire 
any longer, with a fierce and passionate rage the clans- 
men on the right charged, and broke the first English 
line ; but the Duke, expecting this, had specially strength- 
ened the second line, which received them with a terrible 
fire and forced them back. The bravest were destroyed ; 
the broken remnant fled towards Inverness hotly pursued 
by English dragoons. On the left of the Prince's line 
was stationed the clan Macdonald, but they claimed as 
a prerogative of their clan the honour of fighting on the 
right, and now stood sullen. They saw their chief shot 
before their eyes, heard his dying exclamation, 'My 
God ! have the children of my tribe forsaken me ? ' but 
they stood sullen still and inactive, whilst the rest of the 
army was being defeated ; and then they retreated in good 
order, — one more proof of the inherent weakness of a 
Highland army. 

The story ran that ere the battle was quite over, Lord 
Elcho rode up to the young Prince, and asked him, who 
once had promised to conquer or to die, to 
Edward's place himself at the head of his troops and 
last fight. j eac j a £ na j c h ar g e- When the Prince hesi- 
tated, it is added that Lord Elcho cursed him to his face, 
and swore that he would never look upon him again. 
Doubts have been cast upon this story, and an account 
that rests upon better evidence is that the prince was 
forced from the battle-field by an attendant who seized 
his bridle rein. 

Very complete was the victory at Culloden, and with 



a.d. 1746. The Forty -five. 163 

it the last chance of Jacobite success came to an end. 
The embers of the Rebellion were stamped out with great 
severity, or rather cruelty, the worst inciters to which 
were the chief officers of the royal army, especially 
the Duke of Cumberland and General Hawley, who 
thought that he was avenging Falkirk. For his conduct 
in the days after Culloden the nickname After the 
'butcher' was given to the Duke. With this battle. 
cruelty many writers have contrasted the clemency of 
Prince Charles towards his prisoners after the battles 
that he had won. The contrast is very marked, but the 
difference in their positions must be remembered. Prince 
Charles was raising a rebellion and naturally anxious 
to win support by showing that a change in the dynasty 
would be a gain to the country. Even the most violent 
Jacobite could hardly treat adhesion to the established 
government as a crime. Cumberland was putting down 
a rebellion against his father's house, a rebellion which 
was not only legally a crime, but might fairly be con- 
sidered even by those who did not love the house of 
Brunswick as a wanton disturbance by war, and to 
some extent by rapine, of a nation enjoying internal 
peace under a settled government. The clemency of 
a rebel may be honourable to him, and though partly 
due to policy it was honourable to Charles, but clemency 
in an established government may be attributed to weak- 
ness, and may almost take the form of invitation to further 
rebellion. Revolutions cannot be made with rose-water, 
much less put down with it ; and those who take the 
sword shall perish by the sword. It is the simple duty 
of an established government to protect itself. This de- 
fence, however, applies rather to the execution of rebels 
after trial on the scaffold, than to the cruelty of Cumber- 
land and Hawley in the neighbourhood of Culloden and 
immediately after the battle. When a noble and upright 



164 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1746. 

judge, who had done more than any other to support the 
Government in the time of trouble, assured Cumberland 
that his acts were contrary to law, this was his brutal 
answer : ' The laws, my lord ! T'll make a brigade give 
laws,' and he afterwards spoke of his adviser as ' that old 
woman who talked to me about humanity. 5 The suffer- 
ings of the inhabitants at the hands of the dragoons are 
described as terrible. The English soldiers under orders 
shot the men, burnt their houses, and drove women and 
children forth to die. 

Amongst the victors at Culloden were soldiers who 
had thrice run away, and there is a proverb that ' cowards 
are always cruel.' Side by side with real cruelty it 
sounds a mere childish insult, when we read that the 
Pretender's standards were carried into Edinburgh by 
chimney-sweeps, and burnt by the common hangman. 

From fear lest the Scotch should be too full of sym- 
pathy with their countrymen, the prisoners were brought, 
Punishment a l most m droves, to England to be tried. At 
of rebels. Carlisle and York a great many trials were 
held, and many prisoners found guilty. Few, however, 
were executed with all the savage formalities of the cruel 
law of treason. Three peers and seventy-three com- 
moners is the number of those who suffered death, 
whilst a great many more were transported to the 
colonies in America. Fourteen months after the battle 
of Culloden an Act of Indemnity was passed granting 
pardon to all the survivors who, according to the quaint 
expression common for years after, had been ' out ' in 
the Forty-five, but excepting by name eighty of the most 
important who had escaped. This was followed by other 
Acts of Parliament intended to break the Highland 
disaffection. By one the Highlanders were to be dis- 
armed, severe penalties being attached to the possession 
or concealment of any weapon ; moreover, the High- 



a.d. 1746. The Forty- five. 165 

landers were forbidden their peculiar dress, under pain 
of six months' imprisonment lor the first offence, seven 
years' transportation for the second. Of all the measures 
this last provision, in that it wounded feeling, was the 
most unpopular. By other Acts the hereditary jurisdictions 
and military service were brought to an end ; these were 
relics of feudalism and greatly assisted clanship. The 
chief of a clan had judicial power over all its members, 
and the jurisdiction of all chiefs throughout Scotland was 
bought lor a sum of money (152,000/.), which Parliament 
granted. The tenure of land for military service, which 
was of the very essence of feudalism, having in England 
fallen into disuse, had been formally abolished in the year 
of the Restoration (1660). In the Highlands of Scotland 
it had continued with greater vitality, and had given the 
chiefs their power and the Pretender his army. The 
object of these statutes was to break the power of the 
clans. Other statutes of an intolerant character were 
passed with the view of crushing the Episcopal Church 
of Scotland — a religious body always notoriously on the 
Jacobite side, because in the time of William III. it had 
ceased to be the established Church in Scotland, and 
naturally connected the cause of the Stuarts with their 
own. Yet James and Charles Edward were both Roman 
Catholics, and sincerely attached to their own form of 
religion. 

These measures were all intended to coerce the 
Highlanders and to stop the spirit of disaffection ; but, 
of course, they only created discontent with H; hland 
the English Government. A very wise idea regiments. 
on the part of the great Lord Chatham was carried out 
within a dozen years of the Rebellion — the enrolment 
of Highland regiments. Amongst the Highlanders fight- 
ing was their profession. There was not on their moun- 
tain homes sufficient peaceful occupation to keep all 



1 66 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1746. 

employed, and the frequent risings of the Highlanders 
have been explained on the same principle on which the 
doctors formerly bled their patients. They were hot- 
blooded, and fighting was needed. In order to gratify 
their taste, many Highlanders had gone abroad, joined 
foreign armies, and won great renown. Noble families 
on the Continent trace their origin to Scotchmen who 
had been soldiers of fortune in French or Prussian 
armies. On some battle-fields they crossed swords with 
the English. Excellent was the suggestion that this en- 
thusiasm should be used against the enemies of England. 
Henceforward there were no braver and no better 
soldiers in the army of the United Kingdom than the 
Highland regiments, and many a victory in every part 
of the world makes it impossible to over-estimate the 
debt that England owes them. From this time forward 
the long-fostered discontent against the Union began 
to disappear, and English and Scotch began to feel 
themselves one people. 

After the defeat of his army at Culloden and utter 
downfall of his cause the young Chevalier was for more 
Charles than five months in imminent danger of his 
IfteTthe ^ e > wandering from place to place, an outcast 
battle. and a fugitive. A very large reward, 30,000/., 
probably in purchasing power equivalent to 100,000/. in 
our day, was offered for his capture. During his wander- 
ings hundreds must have been in a position to earn this 
reward : none did. No fact speaks more for the honour 
and fidelity of the Highlanders and for the love that they 
bore the Prince. Oftentimes the Prince was miserably 
lodged in some hut or cave with outlaws like himself, or 
with poor herdsmen ; oftentimes he was almost starved. 
The most famous incident in connection with this time is 
the way in which Flora Macdonald enabled him to 
escape when the pursuit was hottest, no less than 2,000 



a.d. 1746. The Forty -five. 167 

men being engaged in searching a single island (South 
Uist). The Prince was disguised as a female servant in 
attendance upon Miss Flora Macdonald, who in her 
single self may be said to have atoned for the miscon- 
duct of her clan at Culloden. Apparently the Prince 
wore his disguise but awkwardly, and in crossing streams 
now holding his petticoats too high, now letting them 
float on the water, so that one who was with him re- 
marked, ' Your enemies call you a pretender ; but if you 
be, I can tell you that you are the worst at your trade I 
ever saw.' One young officer in the Prince's army, re- 
sembling the Prince somewhat in height and appearance, 
tried to divert pursuit from him by exclaiming when he 
was wounded, ' Villains, you have slain your prince.' For 
some little time it was believed that the Prince was really 
slain. Then the pursuit recommenced. At length, how- 
ever, the young Chevalier was able to embark on board 
a French frigate, with about a hundred of his followers, 
and to set foot once again on the shore of France. 

It may be as well here to follow to its close the 
melancholy story of the young Prince and of his house. 
England being at war with France, the French welcomed 
the Scotch fugitives ; made them money grants, and in 
other ways helped them. 

But two years later France was preparing to close 
the war with he peace signed a little later at Aix-la- 
Chapelle. The French Government then Charles 
found Prince Charles an awkward guest, and E e ^ r from 
begged him to retire from France, offering France, 
him an honourable asylum in Switzerland with a pension 
and the nominal title of Prince of Wales. Having 
refused this honourable offer, he was seized one evening 
as he was going to the opera in Paris, hurried at first to 
prison, and then out of France into the small territory 
held by the Pope at Avignon. 



1 68 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1746. 

From town to town the unhappy Prince wandered, 
now more than ever an outcast. He gave great offence 
His later to tne dwindling remnants of his supporters 
history. by admitting to his intimacy the sister of the 
housekeeper to the Prince of Wales, who was suspected 
of betraying Jacobite secrets. Charles Edward refused 
to listen to the suggestion of his own supporters that 
this intimacy should be brought to a close. Thereupon 
the Jacobite party was practically broken up, though it 
may have much longer had an existence in sentiment 
both in England and in Scotland. 

More than once the Prince is said to have himself 
visited London, the most famous tradition, though it is 
little more than a tradition, being that he was present in 
Westminster Abbey at the coronation of King George III. 
On the death of his father, the old Pretender, in 1766 at 
the advanced age of seventy-eight, as the different 
courts of Europe refused to acknowledge in any way the 
son as King of Great Britain, the latter assumed the 
title of Count of Albany. He married a German prin- 
cess much younger than himself, but they lived very 
unhappily together; for in the later years of his life there 
is no doubt that this gallant Prince, in whom so many 
hopes had once been centred, yielded to degrading 
habits of intoxication : it is said that the taste for whisky 
began during his exposure to cold on his flight in Scot- 
land. He died at Rome, January 31, 1788, on the day 
after the anniversary of the execution of his great-grand- 
father, one century later than the Revolution which cost 
his grandfather his throne, and only one year before 
the greater Revolution which shook so many thrones. 
On the death of Charles Edward the heir was his 
younger brother Henry, who had been admitted 
Cardinal into holy orders in the Roman Catholic 
Church, and who was made a cardinal by 
the Pope. The Cardinal never asserted his claim to the 



a. d. 1746. Remainder of Continental War. 169 

throne, but once issued a medal, representing him in 
cardinal's robes with the crown and sceptre in the back- 
ground, and bearing the motto, 'Voluntate Dei non 
desiderio popuhV 

In his latter days King George III. granted the 
Cardinal a pension of 4,000/. a year, and when this last 
of the Stuarts died at Rome in 1807, he bequeathed to 
the King of England all the crown jewels which his 
grandfather, King James II., had taken with him on his 
hasty retreat from England. 

In the cathedral church of St. Peter's at Rome stands 
a monument by the eminent sculptor Canova. It was 
erected at the expense of the Prince Regent. On it is 
this simple inscription : 

JACOBO III., JACOBI II. MAGN. BRIT. REGIS FILIO, 

CAROLO EDUARDO ET HENRICO, DECANO 

PATRUM CARDINALIUM, JACOBI III. FILIIS 

REGL32 STIRPIS STUARDLrE POSTREMIS 

ANNO MDCCCXIX. 

BEATI MORTUI QUI IN DOMINO MORIUNTUR. 



CHAPTER X. 

REMAINDER OF CONTINENTAL WAR. 

The battle of Fontenoy was followed by a series of 
successes in the Netherlands, Marshal Saxe winning for 
the French town after town. His campaigns saxe pre- 
are like the reversal of Marlborough's cam- Pfvade 
paigns. Marlborough took some years to clear Holland. 
the French out of the many strong fortresses of which 
Belgium is full. The Dutch called them the Barrier 
Fortresses. When the process was complete Marl- 
borough was preparing to invade France, but his plans 



170 The Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1746. 

were frustrated by his removal from the command. Saxe 
was now reversing the process, gaining the same set 
of fortresses, and intending when they were all gained 
to invade Holland. Other generals might have risked 
somewhat, have masked the fortresses, and not caring 
that the enemy would be to rear of them, have made a 
rush upon their prey. Both Marlborough and Saxe 
could be dashing, even rash when needed. Saxe was so 
naturally inclined in that direction that he put constraint 
on himself in adopting the method of fighting which 
was more in accordance with rules. The solid and 
careful mode which he adopted was, it may be added, 
approved by Frederick the Great. 

Yet the capture of Brussels was of the dashing order. 
In those days it was the fashion to withdraw armies from 
the field and put them into winter quarters. 
Before the winter of 1745-6 had ended, whilst 
the army was in winter quarters at Ghent amusing itself 
with French lightness of heart, and whilst the Court was 
unable to understand why Saxe did not return to Paris 
during the season of inaction, Saxe suddenly gave orders 
to march on Brussels, and in three weeks took it. His 
letters to the Austrian commandant inviting surrender 
are remarkable for their humanity. Saxe wished to 
preserve the suburbs from destruction and the city from 
plunder. Unfortunately, as the campaigns continued, 
Saxe became less particular in the matter of plunder. 
He who at first would take no share began to help him- 
self, and the reason given is that he feared the ingrati- 
tude of the Court and knew the strength of the cabals 
against him. In the course of the year the strong 
places, Antwerp and Namur, familiar, as all 

Other towns. , ' , . r . . . ' • i • 

these Belgian cities have been, with sieges 
and storming, yielded to him. In connection with the 
latter he fought a battle which was a very murderous 



a. d. 1746. Remainder of Continental War. 171 

conflict. The allied army was under Prince Charles, the 
brother of the Emperor, Duke William of Cumberland 
being engaged in that year in the Highlands. Prince 
Charles tried to force Saxe to raise the siege of Namur, 
but could not. Saxe kept him off until the town was his, 
then offered battle at Roucoux, a little to the north of 
Liege, thoroughly beating him. The English troops it is 
said bore the brunt of the attack, and the French victory 
was very dearly purchased. By the end of this cam- 
paign one may say that the road was quite clear for Saxe 
to invade Holland. In the spring of the following year 
the French formally declared war on Holland, and in- 
vasion began at the western end of the frontier. Sub- 
ordinate generals under Saxe's command promptly seized 
that portion of Flanders which Holland had conquered 
and joined to the province of Zealand. The English 
sent a fleet to restore confidence ; but the rage of the 
Dutch against their rulers led to a rising in 
which the people demanded that the office of Stadt- 
Stadtholder should be revived. It had been holdershi P- 
in abeyance for forty-five years since the death of William 
III. of England. 

The Duke of Cumberland having finished his task in 
Scotland, was back again commanding the troops in the 
Netherlands, and after his victory at Culloden, Battle f 
burning with desire to wipe out the memory of Lauffeid. 
Fontenoy. The English and Austrian troops had in 
Roucoux a second defeat to efface. King Lewis was 
equally anxious for a battle. On July 2 the battle took 
place at Lauffeid, which lies to the west of Maestricht 
and not a dozen miles from the field of Roucoux. Saxe 
perceived that the village of Lauffeid would be the key of 
the fight. Cumberland apparently had not perceived it, and 
had only slightly fortified the village. When too late fully 
to remedy this error, he poured his troops into the place 



172 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1746. 

in a huge column. It was like a repetition of Fontenoy, 
except that the column had its front protected by the 
village ; moreover, it was marching along a hollow road. 
The story runs that a friend said to Saxe, 'You were 
dying at Fontenoy, and yet you won ; you were better at 
Roucoux, and you won ; you are too well to-day not to 
crush.' A cavalry charge broke the allied column. A 
gigantic effort was then made and the village taken, so 
that the movements at Fontenoy were repeated in reverse 
order : first the general charge, then the artillery from 
the front pouring down the column's length. The King 
complained afterwards that the marshal had exposed 
himself like a grenadier. Perhaps a still graver fault 
was that he did not follow up his victory, but allowed the 
Austrians, who had hardly taken any part in the battle, to 
withdraw unmolested. Again it was generally expected 
B n that the immediate result of the victory would 
Zoom. be the siege of Maestricht. But Saxe sent a 

lieutenant to continue the campaign on the western coast 
by besieging Bergen op Zoom. Now this town was 
thought a masterpiece of fortification, and is still very 
strong ; but up to this time it had never been taken, and 
though it has suffered many a siege, it has only been 
taken on this and on one later occasion by the French. 
Saxe wished to strike fear into the Dutch by taking their 
impregnable fortress. In sixty-three days Bergen op 
Zoom fell. Then of the strong fortresses only Maestricht 
was left, and early next year he marched on Maestricht, 
duly besieged and took it. Immediately on the fall of 
this last fortress the preliminaries of peace were signed. 
It may be observed in connection with the capture of 
these fortresses by the French that tactics had changed. 
Instead of relying upon the slow process of sapping 
and undermining, the French brought up heavy batteries 
of cannon and bombarded furiously. This was a much 
speedier method. 



a. d. 1746. Remainder of Continental War. 173 

While in the Netherlands the French were gaining, in 
Central Europe and in Italy the Austrian cause prospered. 
Sardinia, which was watching carefully her The war 
own interests, joined Austria and England, elsewhere. 
The result was that the troops of France and Spain were 
driven back. But in June 1745, apparently as one of 
the results of Fontenoy, the Republic of Genoa joined 
France and Spain, and the balance began to incline 
against Austria. Both Milan and Parma were captured. 
After the Peace of Dresden more Austrian troops, being 
no longer wanted against Prussia, were poured into Italy. 
In the middle of 1746 the French and Spaniards were 
defeated in the battle of Piacenza. The Austrians fol- 
lowed up their success, and driving the Spaniards quite out 
of Lombardy took Genoa also. Their next step was actu- 
ally to invade Provence. Many of the French themselves 
could not understand the policy by which all the French 
efforts seemed to be concentrated on the war in the 
Netherlands, whilst so little energy was displayed in the 
war in the south. This side of the war must be remem- 
bered, as it helps to explain the eagerness of the French 
for peace in spite of the northern victories. When the 
Austrians had seized* Genoa they treated the inhabitants 
so badly, especially in the matter of exactions, that the 
latter rose against the troops and drove them out of the 
city. Of course the Austrians returned again and laid 
siege to Genoa. The ' queenly city with its streets of 
palaces rising tier above tier from the water, girdling with 
the long lines of its bright white houses the vast sweep of 
its harbour,' 1 made a most valiant and heroic defence, 
holding out until it was relieved by the French, and not 
again falling into the hands of the Austrians. 

1 Dr. Arnold. 



174 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1748. 

CHAPTER XI. 

PEACE OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. 

The campaigns in the Netherlands were wholly in 
favour of the French, and. it is no wonder that by the 
s f early part of 1748 the Dutch and the English 
things that thought that the war had continued long 
enough. The Dutch were not only utterly- 
exhausted but in imminent peril. They saw their cities, 
even their strongest, falling one after the other into the 
hands of Marshal Saxe. It seemed impossible to resist 
him, and if they did not speedily come to terms they ex- 
pected that their whole land would be overrun. The 
English also were gaining nothing from the war and began 
to ask themselves what possible advantage could come 
to them from it. The expense was enormous, as the war 
had already cost sixty -four millions. It does not appear 
that much of this large sum had been spent in fighting 
Spain, for the Spanish part figures only at the beginning 
of the war, and then became an affair of privateering. 
The privateers repaid themselves and did not cost the 
treasury a penny. The whole expenditure had therefore 
gone for the maintenance of the balance of power in 
Europe. On the other hand, to one who considers only 
the war in the Netherlands, it would seem that France 
was behaving with unexampled magnanimity. Having 
won all the victories, she was prepared to forego the 
advantages arising from them. The French were win- 
ning back their ancient glory, and Saxe was atoning for 
Marlborough. Yet after every battle King Lewis said 
that he only desired peace ; with a message to that 
effect he released the English general who had been 
taken prisoner at Lauffeld. He wished to behave, he 
said, 'not like a merchant but like a king. 3 In truth, 



a.d. 1748. Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. 175 

France was thoroughly exhausted by the heavy taxation 
for the war. Though successful in the Netherlands, in 
Provence she had suffered invasion ; her colonial posses- 
sions both in America and in India were captured or 
threatened, and her navy, never very strong, was all but 
annihilated. Since the death of King Philip of Spain, 
France was practically deserted by her former ally, for 
Philip's successor, Ferdinand the Wise, was very luke- 
warm in supporting the war. Moreover, a new power 
was being added to the alliance against France. Chiefly 
through the aid of heavy English subsidies, Russia had 
been induced to send a large army into the field. This 
army was on the march for the seat of war when the 
negotiations for peace began. 

Early in 1748 a congress was summoned at the old 
capital of Charles the Great, Aachen, or Aix-la-Chapelle, 
a city famous for congresses, perhaps selected n 

J o 1 r r Congress 

for that purpose because since the days of at Aix- 
the Romans it has been a favourite watering- a " ape 
place. Now Maria Theresa was by no means as anxious 
as the others for peace. She was gaining from the war, 
and not being in a position to lose much, seemed to care 
little how much Holland and England lost and expended 
on her behalf. Seeing the reluctance shown by her 
ambassador at the Congress, the representatives of 
Holland, England, and France acted separately, and 
late at night, or early in the morning of April 30, the 
preliminaries of peace were signed between them. 
Diplomacy in those days, as one hundred years earlier 
at the peace of Westphalia, was slow in movement. The 
preliminaries put a stop to the fighting, and the diplo- 
matists then worked for nearly six months, chiefly in 
overcoming the objections of Maria Theresa. The de- 
finitive treaty, which hardly varied from the preliminaries, 
was signed on October 18. 



176 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1748. 

Yet the arrangements made were simple enough, for 
in most matters it was a return to what is called the 
Terms of status quo ante bellum. All conquests were to 
peace. ^ e mu tually surrendered. Thus England gave 
back the island of Cape Breton, a colony of the French 
in North America, and called by them lie Royale, but 
taken during this war by the New Englanders, who dis- 
mantled Louisburg, the capital, which has ever since 
been left a heap of ruins. Ten years later, in the Seven 
Years' War, the English won the island back, and it still 
forms part of our colony of Nova Scotia. France, on her 
side, gave up all her conquests in the Netherlands, ap- 
parently much more substantial gains. The right of 
Frederick the Great to Silesia, as settled by the Peace 
of Dresden, was recognised. It is no wonder that 
Austria did not like the treaty, for she had not only to 
acquiesce in the cession of this important province, but 
to yield sundry places in the Milanese to the King of Sar- 
dinia. She also lost the duchy of Parma, which, with the 
duchy of Piacenza taken from Sardinia, was to be assigned 
to Don Philip, the second son of the King of Spain ; only 
the condition was added that if he died or became King 
of Naples, the duchies were to be restored, Parma to 
Austria, and Piacenza to Sardinia. Dunkirk was to be 
dismantled on the sea side according to former treaties. 
France agreed not only to give up supporting the Pre- 
tender, but even to make him leave France. As has 
been already narrated, he refused to go upon persuasion, 
and the stipulation of the treaty was only carried out by 
the use of actual force. 

Austria's gain (besides escaping the dismemberment 
originally proposed) was solely that France agreed to 
acknowleged the Emperor and to recognise the Pragmatic 
Sanction, that is, Maria Theresa's right to her father's 
dominions. 



a.d. 1748. Peace of A ix- la- Chape lie. 177 

It is certainly curious that in the treaty no mention 
was made of the right of search which had led to the 
war between England and Spain. Yet this was ~ . 

r Questions 

the one matter of real importance to England, not really 
Was she to have free access for her trade 
and for her expansion to the New World ? The ques- 
tion of the balance of power in Europe really affected 
England very little, and, if it had not been for Hanover, 
might have been disregarded by English statesmen. It 
is strange that the Spanish war was, after a spasmodic 
effort at first, always allowed to languish, while such 
efforts were being put forth on the Continent of Europe. 
The Spanish war perhaps was needed. With respect to 
all the rest, Walpole's policy would have been much the 
wisest. ' Fifty thousand men slain this year in Europe,' 
said he during the Polish Succession War, ' and not one 
Englishman. Had it not been for the war, the rebellion, 
the Forty-five, would not have taken place. And all the 
fighting, all the expenditure, was in vain. When, through 
sheer exhaustion, the combatants dropped or sheathed 
their swords, there was positively no change in the posi- 
tion of affairs. But the seeds of a later and crueller war 
were sown. The long but somewhat intermittent war 
now ended was but the prelude of the Seven Years' 
War. 

Lord Chesterfield, who was very desirous that peace 
should be made — certainly a laudable desire — declares in 
a letter to a friend, that by the peace England state of 
was saved from bankruptcy ; in another letter, England, 
just before the Congress, he had said that ' money was 
never so scarce in the city nor the stocks so low, even 
during the rebellion ; twelve per cent, is offered for 
money, and even that will not do.' This can only have 
been temporary. England can hardly have been so 
exhausted as Lord Chesterfield thought, for her finances 

M. II. N 



178 The Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1749. 

soon improved. In the year following the treaty the 
Three per cents, were above par ; and measures were 
taken by the ministry to redeem the Four per cents, and 
to consolidate the whole national debt at three per cent' 
This does not look like exhaustion, but like extraordinary 
prosperity. 

After the peace there was a large disbandment of 
soldiers, the army being reduced by as many as 20,000 
Soldiers men. It was feared that these men would not 
emigrate to ^e reac [y to return to quiet paths of industry ; 
Scotia. and in order to prevent trouble and to stop 

discontent, concerted emigration on a large scale was 
proposed. Nova Scotia was the colony selected, and 
grants of land as well as of a free passage, together with 
the necessaries of life for one year, were made to men 
and to officers who left the army. It is said that these 
soldiers proved excellent colonists. Nova Scotia had 
originally been a French colony, under the name of Acadie. 
In the reign of James I. the English took it from them, 
and it was to pay for the expense of this colony that 
James I. instituted the order of baronets, selling admis- 
sion to it. The colony became a bone of contention 
between the two nations, passing now to one now to the 
other, until it was finally ceded to the English by the 
peace of Utrecht. 

In France the hero of the war was Marshal Saxe. 
At the court there were cabals against him. On the 
Marshal ground of his being Protestant, objections had 
Saxe. been urged against his promotion to the posi- 

tion of Marshal. But the people admired him and 
showed their admiration whenever he appeared in public. 
In the first fervour of enthusiasm after Fontenoy, the 
King presented him with a royal palace, Chambord, near 
Blois, on the Loire. This large palace, built in the style 
of the Renaissance, in the heart of a great forest, has, in 



a.d. 1749. Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. 179 

spite of French Revolutions, remained the property of 
the royal house of France ; and in our days has given 
the title by which was known the prince who represented 
that house, and who honourably rather than prudently 
preferred the traditions of his family to the crown. At 
Chambord Saxe lived for a year or two after the peace. 
His ambitious soul was full of dreams, especially with 
dreams of a kingdom, for which he was prepared to go 
even far afield. He thought of establishing a kingdom 
in the island of Madagascar, a curious anticipation of 
later French ambition. His eyes were turned also to- 
wards Corsica, and towards the project of leading a 
French colony to America. But death came upon him 
as he dreamt these dreams, and cut them short. Over 
the facts of his death a mystery hangs, for there is a 
tradition, apparently not without some foundation, that 
Marshal Saxe received his death wound when secretly 
engaged in a duel with a prince with whom he had 
quarrelled in the Netherlands. It is interesting to add 
that a grand-daughter of Marshal Saxe was the famous 
French novelist who is generally known as George Sand. 



t 80 The Early Hanoverians. 



BOOK III. 

RELIGION AND LETTERS. 



CHAPTER I. 

WESLEY AND BUTLER. 

The reign of George II. ends in a blaze of military glory, 
but peace hath her victories no less renowned than war : 
State of anc ^ to those who know how rightly to appraise 
religion, events, the new reformation which took place 
during the reign may seem of more importance than 
even the great victories of the Seven Years' War. Re- 
ligion in England was in a very languid state through 
the reign of George I. and during the first decade of 
George II. Many clergymen, no doubt, in country 
villages were zealously and quietly doing their work, just 
as, a little earlier, there is to be noticed a religious tone 
in many papers of the widely-read ' Spectator ' ; but it is 
quite fair to say that religion had not a vital hold upon 
any class of the people. The force of Puritanism was 
spent, a force which had lasted long after it was con- 
quered at the Restoration. On the other hand, the 
waves of Church influence which had passed over England 
since the Restoration may be described as rather political 
than religious. Here is some evidence upon the lack of 
religion. 

The Archbishop of Canterbury would not be anxious 
to take a gloomy view, and in 1738, the very year in which 
Wesley's itinerant preaching began, he said, in an official 



Wesley and Butler. 1 8 1 

charge : — ' An open and professed disregard to religion is 
become through a variety of unhappy causes a FvIdenc 
distinguishing character of the present age. state of 
This evil is grown to a great height in the re lglon 
metropolis of the nation; is daily spread through every part 
of it ; and bad in itself as this can be, must of necessity 
bring all others after it. Indeed, it hath already brought 
in such dissoluteness and contempt of principle in the 
highest part of the world, and such profligate intemper- 
ance and fearlessness of committing crimes in the lower, 
as must, if this torrent of impiety stop not, become 
absolutely fatal. And God knows, far from stopping, it 
receives from the ill design of some persons and the 
inconsiderateness of others a continual increase. Chris- 
tianity is now ridiculed and railed at with very little 
reserve, and the teachers of it without any at all. 5 In the 
advertisement to the 'Analogy' (published 1736) Butler 
writes : — ' It is come, I know not how, to be taken for 
granted by many persons that Christianity is not so much 
as a subject of inquiry, but that it is now at length dis- 
covered to be fictitious. 5 

At the lowest ebb of true religion came the new forces 
destined to turn the tide — the enthusiasm of Methodism 
in the preaching of the Wesleys and Whitefield to influence 
the middle and lower orders, and the arguments of Butler 
to convince the educated. 

This new religious movement is chiefly connected 
with the name of John Wesley, the son of a Lincolnshire 
clergyman. When Wesley was only six years j ohn 
old his father's parsonage was burnt, and the Wesley, 
little boy was with difficulty saved. As he was lifted out 
of a window, the roof of the room in which he had been 
fell with a crash. This wonderful preservation impres- 
sed him even in boyhood with the belief that he was 
designed to be an instrument in some great work. 



1 82 The Early Hanoverians. 

From the age of ten to seventeen, young Wesley was 
educated at the Charterhouse in London, the school 
which Addison had left some quarter of a century earlier. 
At seventeen Wesley went up to Christ Church, Oxford, 
and on the completion of his University course he took 
Holy orders, and was elected a Fellow of Lincoln, at which 
college his place of birth gave him a preferential claim. 

When at Oxford, John Wesley and his brother Charles 
and a few other friends led very strict and religious lives. 
They rose at four o'clock every morning, and en- 
tirely abstaining from amusement, planned out 
every hour of the day for some studious, pious, or bene- 
ficent use. From this strictness of routine they acquired 
the name of Methodists, a name given in mockery, but 
retained as a name of honour in widely scattered parts of 
the world. 

After working for some few years as a clergyman in 
England, John Wesley was anxious for a wider scope for 
Wesley in n * s energies. He crossed the seas to Georgia, 
Georgia. a colony that had then not very long been 
founded. It was not, however, to the colonists that 
Wesley wished to preach ; in his missionary zeal he was 
determined to carry the gospel to the Indians. But only 
for two years did Wesley remain in Georgia. On his 
return to England the published accounts of his mission 
were attacked by two bishops, with whom Wesley en- 
tered into controversy, and was thought to win the 
victory. 

Shortly after his return to England Wesley paid a 

visit to Count Zinzendorf, the celebrated founder of 

the Moravian Brotherhood at Herrnhut, the 

Wesley and ,.,,,, , , ,. , , . 

the Mora- village which he had recently established m 
Saxony. The name means ' the Lord's protec- 
tion.' The Moravians aimed at a simpler form of Chris- 
tian doctrine as well as a purer and stricter Christian 



Wesley and Butler. 183 

life. The influence of this visit upon Wesley was soon 
visible, for from this time dates the regular organisation 
of the Methodists. They, too, maybe said to have aimed 
at simpler doctrine and stricter life. A life the practice 
of which is more in accordance with the tenets of religion 
is naturally liable to the same charge that is often 
brought against Puritanism, viz. hypocrisy. But the 
Puritans were for a while the dominant power, and under 
such circumstances there is more reason to be hypo- 
critical. Seldom could anyone gain by becoming a 
Methodist, except the ridicule of the world ; yet under 
the preaching of the Wesleys the number of the Metho- 
dists rapidly increased. At first Wesley desired to es- 
tablish a separate society within the limits of the Church 
of England, and it is still a matter of doubt whether he 
himself ever left that church, but it was very soon found 
impossible to prevent the secession, which has created the 
separate sect of Methodists. 

Charles Wesley was the poet of the movement, a 
man of much sweeter and gentler character than his 
brother. Had John been as Charles Wesley, Charles 
there would have been no widespread move- Wesley. 
ment at all. Yet Charles helped with his hymns as the 
elder brother with his sermons, his writings, and his 
power of organisation. Good hymns have a power of 
piercing beyond texts, and the hymns of Charles Wesley 
are still used by many who would scorn in any way to 
be classed with the Methodists. If it be true that the 
making of a people's songs is more important than the 
making of their laws, the work of Charles Wesley must 
be remembered in estimating that of his brother. 

George Whitefield was a more powerful preacher 
than either of the Wesleys, and had a great in- whitefield 
fluence in the first establishment of Method- the preacher, 
ism. He was born at the Bell Inn in Gloucester, and 



1 84 The Early Hanoverians. 

was educated at the grammar school in that city. His 
mother, however, was poor, and he was taken from 
school at the age of fifteen to help in the service of the 
inn. At eighteen, however, Whitefield went as a servitor 
to Pembroke College, Oxford, and whilst at Oxford fell 
under the influence of John Wesley, then a Fellow of 
Lincoln. Whitefield's piety and genuine religion induced 
the Bishop of Gloucester to ordain him before the usual 
age, and shortly afterwards Whitefield joined the Wes- 
leys in the missionary expedition to Georgia. His first 
stay was for a very short time. Having seen the needs. 
Whitefield returned to England to raise money for 
the mission. This was the beginning of his famous 
preaching. The clergy, being angry at the rise of 
Methodism, refused their pulpits, and Whitefield took 
to preaching in the open air. His first audience con- 
sisted of the colliers in the neighbourhood of Bristol, 
and it is said that as many as 20,000 soon gathered 
round him. He remarked himself that 'the first discovery 
of their being affected was by seeing the white gutters 
made by their tears, which plentifully fell down their 
black cheeks. 3 Whitefield paid no less than seven visits 
to Georgia, in those days a formidable voyage, and was 
always indefatigable as an itinerant preacher. His 
labours, indeed, were incessant. It was stated by one 
who knew him well that he generally preached for forty 
hours every week, and sometimes for sixty. He would 
not rest when friends suggested, saying that he would 
' rather wear out than rust out.' The result was that he 
died before he was fifty-six. 

Differences had arisen between Wesley and White- 
field, which led to a division afterwards between their 
followers. Those who follow Whitefield are known 
properly as the Calvinistic Methodists. 

Eloquence like Whitefield's, as that of many eminent 



Wesley and Butler, 185 

debaters in Parliament, cannot be preserved for posterity. 
There is nothing remarkable in his printed whitefieid's 
sermons nor in his writings. The whole eloquence, 
effect must have lain in voice and manner, in earnest- 
ness and enthusiasm ; but the testimony to the influence 
of his sermons cannot be doubted. One Whitsuntide he 
entered into a competition with the showmen in Moor- 
fields. All day, from six in the morning until dark, he 
was preaching, singing, or praying ; and afterwards he 
received no fewer than 1,000 letters from persons testi- 
fying to their conversion. But the strongest testimony 
is that of Benjamin Franklin, the well-known American 
writer and thinker — not a man likely easily to yield to 
impulse. Franklin went to hear Whitefield preach for 
an object as to which he had been consulted, and from 
which he had tried to dissuade Whitefield. Franklin 
noted that he had in his pocket copper and silver and 
gold, and continues : 'As he proceeded I began to 
soften, and concluded to give the copper ; another stroke 
of his oratory made me ashamed of that, and determined 
me to give the silver ; and he finished so admirably that 
I emptied my pocket wholly into the collector's dish, 
gold and all. 5 

The period of history contained in this little volume 
witnessed the publication of several books, such as 
' Robinson Crusoe ' and ' Gulliver's Travels ,' 

Butler 

which will always hold a place in literature ; 
but probably the greatest and the most useful of all 
books then published is c Butler's Analogy,' a work of 
potent influence in stemming the tide of irreligion. 
Joseph Butler was born at the little town of Wantage, 
on the Berkshire Downs. His father had been a linen- 
draper, but had retired from business before the birth of 
this his youngest child. The father, being a Presby- 
terian, wished his son to be trained as a Presbyterian 



1 86 The Early Hanoverians. 

minister, and sent him to a dissenting school at 
Gloucester, where, curiously enough, he had the future 
Archbishop of Canterbury as a schoolfellow. Even 
when a schoolboy young Butler displayed great talent 
as a reasoner, and at length he persuaded his father to 
permit him to enter at Oriel College, Oxford, and to take 
Holy orders in the English Church. He was only 
twenty-six when he was appointed preacher at the Rolls 
Chapel. Fifteen sermons out of those that he there 
preached have been published, and are still not only 
read, but studied as a text-book at universities. Butler 
was presented to the valuable living of Stanhope, in the 
county of Durham, and in the seclusion of this quiet 
country rectory he wrote the ' Analogy.' Queen Caroline 
was a great admirer of Butler's sermons. She is re- 
ported once to have asked whether he was dead, and to 
have received the reply, ' No, but he is buried.' The 
Queen, who delighted in theological and philosophical 
controversy, and who had great influence in the bestowal 
of church patronage, determined to unearth him. In 
the year before her death Butler was appointed clerk 
of the closet, and on her death-bed she recommended 
him to her husband's care. He was shortly afterwards 

Made appointed Bishop of Bristol. As this see was . 

bishop. very poorly paid, he was also made Dean of 
St. Paul's, and after a dozen years he was translated to 
Durham, against which the same complaint could not be 
made. The princely revenues of the see were, during 
the two years that he filled it, lavishly spent by Bishop 
Butler in public and in private charity, whilst he himself 
retained the utmost simplicity of life. He died at Bath 
in 1752, aged sixty, and was buried in Bristol Cathedral. 
The story runs that Butler had once declined the 
Primacy, with the reply that it was ' too late for him to 
try to support a falling church. 5 If true, this is a curious 



Wesley and Butler. I Sy 

instance of the way in which despondent men will 
prophesy ill. But probably no man did so much as 
Bishop Butler to support the cause of religion and pre- 
vent it from falling. 

The full title of his great book, is ' The Analogy of 
Religion, Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and 
Course of Nature.' It marks a difference be- The 
tvveen the opposition to religion in the first 'Analogy.' 
half of last century and in later times, that Butler is 
throughout not arguing against atheists, those who deny 
the existence of a God, but against deists, those who, 
holding this doctrine, yet deny the truth of Christianity. 
' My design is to apply the method of analogy to re- 
ligion in general, both natural and revealed, taking for 
proved that there is an intelligent author of nature and 
natural governor of the world.' To those who acknow- 
ledge this postulate, Bishop Butler proceeds to prove 
that there are no more and no harder difficulties in the 
Christian scheme than can be found in theism. The 
book is written in a singularly dignified style, very far 
superior to the ordinary works of controversy. 



CHAPTER II. 

BERKELEY AND OGLETHORPE. 

The reign of George II. is famous for two philanthropic 
schemes, which are connected with the names of Bishop 
Berkeley and of General Oglethorpe. This is 
not the place to discuss Berkeley's philoso- 
phical doctrines, but it is right to give some account of the 
man to whom Pope assigned ' every virtue under heaven.' 
He was of good family, born and educated in Ireland, being 



1 88 The Early Hanoverians. 

entered at Trinity College, Dublin, early in 1700, when he 
was only fifteen. He became a scholar, afterwards fellow, 
junior dean, and finally tutor. At this period he acquired 
his reputation as a philosopher. In the last year of Queen 
Anne's reign Swift took Berkeley to court. In London 
he seems to have met most of the leading people. Swift 
introduced him to Lord Peterborough, who had just been 
appointed ambassador extraordinary to the King of 
Sicily. On Swift's recommendation Berkeley went with 
Peterborough as chaplain and secretary. On the death 
of the Queen Peterborough returned. But the travelling 
fit was on Berkeley, and he continued for some years 
travelling in different parts of Europe. 

In 1723 we find Berkeley strangely mixed up with the 
history of Swift. When Swift broke Vanessa's loving 
heart by the fierce look with which he flung 
down her letter of inquiry to Stella, Vanessa, 
Miss Esther Vanhomrigh, revoked a will by which she 
had left all her property to Swift, and in a new will left 
her property to Berkeley and another. It is to the credit 
of both that no quarrel arose between Swift and Berkeley. 
Berkeley tried to suppress the publication of Swift's 
letters to Vanessa. Shortly afterwards Berkeley was 
appointed Dean of Deny. 

Vanessa's bequest and the income of the deanery, 
however, inspired Berkeley to carry out a project over 
Berkeley's which he had for some three years been brood- 
scheme, ing. It is said that the misery which Berkeley 
saw in England upon his return from the Continent, the 
result of the failure of the South Sea scheme, set his 
mind working to seek some way of benefiting and im- 
proving mankind. Berkeley's scheme was to found a 
Christian University in Bermuda, with the object of 
civilising and converting America. The project seems to 
us wild, and so it seemed to his contemporaries, but their 



Berkeley and Oglethorpe. 1S9 

coldness melted before the fascinating enthusiasm of 
Berkeley. Here is one familiar story. ' All the members 
of the Scriblerus Club (chief literary men of the day) 
being met at dinner, they agreed to rally Berkeley, who 
was a guest, on his scheme at the Bermudas. Berkeley, 
having listened to all the lively things they had to say, 
begged to be heard in his turn ; and displayed his plan 
with such an astonishing and animating force of eloquence 
and enthusiasm, that they were struck dumb, and, after 
some pause, rose up all together with earnestness, ex- 
claiming, " Let us all set out with him immediately." ' A 
still more extraordinary result of his zeal was that he per- 
suaded Walpole to subscribe 200/. and to promise 20,000/. 
from the Exchequer if a bill passed. The bill did pass 
with on y two dissentient voices. Walpole was quite 
astonished, and said that he had ' taken it for granted 
the very preamble of the Bill would have secured its re- 
jection.' The following verses on the subject are the 
only verses preserved amongst the writings of Berkeley. 
They give us some idea of the enthusiasm that has been 
described. 

On the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning 
in America. 

The Muse, disgusted at an age and clime 

Barren of every glorious theme, 
In distant lands now waits a better time 

Producing subjects worthy fame : 

In happy climes where from the genial sun 
And virgin earth such scenes ensue, 

The force of art by nature seems outdone, 
And fancied beauties by the true : 

In happy climes the seat of innocence, 
Where nature guides and virtue rules, 

Where men shall not impose for truth and sense 
The pedantry of courts and schools : 



190 The Early Hanoverians. 

There shall be sung another golden age, 

The rise of empires and of arts, 
The good and great inspiring epic rage, 

The wisest heads and noblest hearts. 

Not such as Europe breeds in her decay ; 

Such as she bred when fresh and young, 
When heavenly flame did animate her clay, 

By future poets shall be sung. 

Westward the course of Empire takes its way : 

The first four acts already past, 
A fifth shall close the drama with the day : 

Time's noblest offspring is its last. 

It is sad to add that all this enthusiasm was in vain. 
Berkeley never went to the romantic Bermudas, though 
Failure of ne went as f ar as America and sojourned at 
scheme. Newport, in Rhode Island. Whilst there, some 
five years after the parliamentary vote, this answer was 
given by Sir Robert Walpole, to one who on Berkeley's be- 
half asked for the money : ' If you put this question to me 
as a minister, I must andean assure you that the money 
shall most undoubtedly be paid, as soon as suits with 
public convenience ; but if you ask me as a friend whether 
Dean Berkeley should continue in America, expecting the 
payment of 20,000/., I advise him by all means to return 
home to Europe, and to give up his present expectations. 
Shortly after Berkeley's return he was made Bishop 
of Cloyne. Though he had been an absentee as a dean, 
Bishop ^ e was a m °del bishop, even according to our 
Berkeley, modern views of bishops' duties, for when 
once appointed bishop, he did not visit England again 
for about eighteen years, and seldom was present even in 
the Irish House of Lords. In the last year of his life, 
being in infirm health, he wished to live quietly at Oxford, 
and with that object he proposed to resign his bishopric. 



Berkeley and OgletJwrpe. 191 

This proposal almost seems to have amused George II., 
who declared that ' Berkeley should die a bishop in spite 
of himself, but that he might live where he pleased.' At 
Oxford after a few months Berkeley died. The story of 
his life gives the best idea of the sweetness of his charac- 
ter, and the earnestness of his benevolence. 

Sufficient honour is not paid in history to the name of 
James Oglethorpe, who in the former half of the century 
anticipated the work which in the latter half 
made Howard famous, and who, from philan- 
thropic motives, founded the colony of Georgia. Ogle- 
thorpe is perhaps best remembered by the couplet of 
Pope : — 

One, driven by strong benevolence of soul, 
Shall fly, like Oglethorpe, from pole to pole. 

The family of Oglethorpe was of good social position ; 
his father was a baronet. James Oglethorpe was born 
in the middle of 1689 ; and in the times of 

T . . . , . .. 1 His history. 

Jacobite excitement m the' eighteenth century, 
when the ridiculous warming-pan story was believed, one 
version of it ran that a brother of Oglethorpe, born in 
the previous year, was, by the connivance of Lady 
Oglethorpe with the Queen, the child passed off to a 
credulous world as the Prince of Wales. During the 
great war that ended with the treaty of Utrecht, 
Oglethorpe held a commission in the English army, 
though he was only an ensign when peace was pro- 
claimed. Shortly afterwards, indeed in the month pre- 
vious to the death of Queen Anne, he matriculated at 
Corpus Christi College, Oxford ; but he could not have 
regularly continued his course, for in another two years 
he was acting as aide-de-camp to Prince Eugene in the 
war against the Turks, being present in that capacity at 
Peterwaradin and at the capture of Belgrade. We next 
find him occupying a family seat in Parliament, and 



192 The Early Hanoverians. 

making his maiden speech on Atterbury's behalf, against 
the Bill of pains and penalties. Oglethorpe had, through 
family connections, strong Jacobite sympathies, which 
were sometimes cast in his teeth, but he does not seem 
to have ever been actively disloyal. 

Early in the reign of George II. Oglethorpe came 

prominently before the House, demanding inquiry into 

the condition of the prisons. He was ap- 

1 he prisons. . , . . •"■ . . L 

pointed Chairman of a Committee of Inquiry. 
Many horrible revelations were made as to the state of 
the prisons, and especially of the Fleet. Bribery was 
found to be common, and the prisoners who could not bribe 
were shamefully maltreated. As the result of the in- 
quiry, prison officials were brought to trial for the murder 
of prisoners entrusted to their charge ; but they managed 
to escape. New regulations for a while improved the 
condition of the prisons, but before many years they be- 
came again a disgrace to English civilisation, and plenty 
of work was left for Howard. As another result of 
Oglethorpe's inquiry, many unfortunate prisoners for 
debt were released, but Oglethorpe's mind was much 
occupied with the consideration how the circumstances 
of these poverty-stricken debtors and of others like them 
could be improved. 

The remedy that came was emigration to a new 
colony with special, philanthropic laws ; and the colony 
Colony of of Georgia was founded, a charter being 
Georgia. obtained from George II., whose name was 
given to the colony. The colony was in the first place to 
be a refuge for the needy ; in the second it was to be a 
centre of missionary influence upon the Indians ; and it 
soon became the scene of the early missionary labours of 
the Wesleys and of White field. The natives long re- 
mained upon very friendly terms with this settlement. A 
party of German Protestants, also, persecuted on account 



Berkeley and Oglethorpe. 193 

of their religion by the Emperor, and driven from their 
home at Salzburg, took refuge in Georgia. The intro- 
duction of spirits was forbidden ; and Oglethorpe caused 
a clause to be inserted in the charter, absolutely prohibit- 
ing slavery. Oglethorpe himself, though holding a good 
position in England, being wealthy, sitting in Parliament, 
and on very friendly terms with the chief literary men, 
was appointed governor without salary. He went out 
with the first party of emigrants, and chose Savannah as 
the capital of the colony. For twenty years Oglethorpe 
continued to hold the office of governor, though he re- 
tained his seat in Parliament, made two intermediate 
voyages to England, and, for the last ten years of his 
nominal governorship, never went back to Georgia at all. 
It must be to the three double voyages that Pope, with 
some exaggeration, alludes in the words ' from pole to 
pole.' During the later part of Oglethorpe's stay in Georgia 
there was war with Spain, and at that time Florida, the 
neighbouring province to Georgia, belonged to Spain. 
Oglethorpe conducted the local part of the war with skill, 
success and moderation, the latter being specially dis- 
played in diminishing the horrors connected with the 
employment of Indians as combatants. 

At the time of ' the Forty-five ' Oglethorpe, who in the 
early part of that year was made a general, had a body of 
recruits for a colonial regiment, the ' Georgia 0g iethorpe 
Rangers,' ready for departure to the colony, in the Forty- 
The Government gave orders that the ship on 
board of which they were should proceed to Hull, and that 
Oglethorpe and his men should march against Prince 
Charles Edward. This corps formed part of the force that 
marched to cut off the retreat of the Pretender, and 
failing that, followed him northwards. Oglethorpe was 
in command at the skirmish at Clifton (p. 1 56), and was 
afterwards tried by court-martial for the offence of 

M. H. O 



194 The Early Hanoverians. 

' lingering on the road.' If it had not been for the gene- 
ral's known Jacobite sympathy, probably this insult would 
not have been put upon him. He was honourably ac- 
quitted, though, strong anti-Jacobites maintained, that he 
was not cleared from the charge. 

General Oglethorpe lived forty years longer to an 
honoured old age. Dr. Johnson and Goldsmith were 
His later amongst his friends and admirers. Edmund 
life. Burke paid him the remarkable compliment of 

calling him ' a more extraordinary person than any he 
had ever read of; for he had called a province into ex- 
istence, and lived to see it become an independent state. 3 
Oglethorpe lived to see American independence estab- 
lished, and his own Georgia one of the triumphant 
thirteen ; but alas ! Georgia, after his rule, rapidly back- 
sliding from its virtues, allowed the importation of spirits,. 
and, with the acquiescence of Whitefield, the introduc- 
tion of slavery. Oglethorpe also lived to see the prison 
reforms of John Howard. It is exactly a century this 
year (1885) since the old general died. He is reported 
by Macaulay to have said that when he was a boy he 
had shot birds where Recent Street now stands. 



CHAPTER III. 

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 

Section I. — The Poets. 

In describing any short period of history, we are always 

met with the difficulty that no period stands alone. It 

State of has had its roots in the past ; it leaves influ- 

letters. ences that will work upon the future. Like 

the second volume of a three-volume novel, it is unin- 



English Literature. 195 

telligible without the other volumes. The age that pre- 
ceded the accession of George I. is famous in literature 
and has the special name of the Augustan Age. We are 
sometimes, however, apt to forget that not only did not 
all the poets and writers who flourished in the reign of 
Queen Anne die with the Queen, but that some of their 
most famous works were written after her death. Pope 
was at work on the 'Translation of Homer,' and had not 
yet written the 'Dunciad' or the 'Essay on Man.' 
Swift had not written 'Drapier's Letters' nor ' Gulliver's 
Travels.' Defoe had not published ' Robinson Crusoe.' 
Addison's official career had begun and the ' Spectator ' 
was at an end. Addison was already giving up to office 
what was meant for mankind, and instead of writing 
more papers like those in the ' Spectator,' was secretary 
to the Lords Justices who ruled England until King 
George arrived, and three years afterwards was for a 
short time Secretary of State. 

The power and influence of literary men during the 
first half of the eighteenth century were very remarkable. 
Perhaps never at any other time was patron- Rewards of 
age so discriminating or so liberal. Not only letters - 
did literary men live on terms of intimacy with politicians, 
who liked playing the part of Maecenas, but as writings, 
and especially political pamphlets, or allusive prologues to 
plays, were having great weight with the people, the 
politicians who were helped paid for the help with ap- 
pointments. In modern days patronage is dead, except 
that of the general public, and literary men do not look 
to places in the public service as a wage for their writings. 
The sale of their books is the legitimate reward of their 
influence. The reign of George II. may be described as 
lying between the days of patronage by the great, and the 
creation of a genuine interest in literature on the part of 
the public. 



ig6 The Early Hanoverians. 

The poetical career of James Thomson falls wholly 
within the reigns of the first two Georges. This ' sweet 
Tames P oet °^ ^ e Y ear >' as Burns describes him, was 
Thomson, born in 1700, the year that Dryden died. It 
may be mentioned that his birthplace was near the 
source of the Tweed, so that he was a native of the 
charmed border country which a century later produced 
the poetry of Sir Walter Scott. Thomson's father was a 
minister, and it was intended that the boy should follow 
in his father's footsteps ; but whilst he was attending 
divinity lectures at Edinburgh University, the Professor 
set his class a paraphrase of a psalm. Thomson's 
exercise was so poetical that the Professor, after com- 
plimenting him on it, told him that if he wished to be of 
use in the ministry he must keep a tight rein on his 
imagination. This remark seems to have turned the 
young poet against a profession in which his favourite 
occupation would only do him harm. He made up his 
mind to follow the vocation of a poet, and in order that 
he might have a wider field, he determined to leave 
Edinburgh for London. 

The poem on which Thomson's fame as a poet de- 
pends is the ' Seasons.' The different parts of this poem 
The were written and published separately in the 

'Seasons.' following order — Winter, Summer, Spring, 
Autumn. The metre is blank verse. Both in the metre 
and in the character of the poetry Thomson was original 
enough not to follow the poetry then in vogue, not to be 
of the school of Pope. As the poet of rural nature, he 
is the predecessor of Cowper. His verse has faults that 
are easily apparent, an exuberant and sometimes inhar- 
monious diction, prosaic commonplaces in bombastic 
language ; but we may agree with Wordsworth that 
Thomson was a true poet, for he had an insight into 
nature and a power of so painting it as to make his 



English Literature. 197 

readers marvel when he shows them its wonders that 
they had never seen them for themselves before. 

Besides the 'Seasons' Thomson wrote several plays 
which cannot be described as successful or as deserving 
of success. A masque called ' Alfred,' in the other 
writing of which he was joined with a friend, poems, 
a minor poet named Mallet, has the advantage of con- 
taining the well-known song ' Rule Britannia,' but it is 
not quite certain to which of the two friends the credit 
of it belongs. Perhaps the only other poem of Thom- 
son's worth remembering is the ' Castle of Indolence/ 
written in the Spenserian stanza, and a very good imita- 
tion of the manner of Spenser. 

The good things that were then so liberally bestowed 
on men of letters were not lacking to Thomson, who 
obtained a sinecure office in the Court of Thomson's 
Chancery as well as a pension from Frederick, rewards. 
Prince of Wales. When his first appointment lapsed on 
the death of a friendly lord chancellor, Thomson was 
made surveyor-general of the Leeward Islands, but he 
never went near them. 

Thomson died in 1748, the year of the peace of Aix.- 
la-Chapelle. In the later years of his life he had lived 
chiefly at Richmond, in Surrey, where he is jj eath of 
buried. After his death Lord Lyttelton, a Thomson. 
friend, brought out one of Thomson's plays with a pro- 
logue that contained the following warm eulogy on his 
character and writings : — 

Oft in this crowded house, with just applause, 

You heard him teach fair virtue's purest laws ; 

For his chaste muse employed her heaven-taught lyre 

None but the noblest passions to inspire : 

Not one immoral, one corrupted thought, 

One line which, dying, he could wish to blot. 

Young's c Night Thoughts,' or, according to its full 



198 The Early Hanoverians. 

title, ' The Complaint ; or, Night Thoughts on Life, 
Death, and Immortality,' published near the 
' Night middle of the century, for a long time held a 

Thoughts. vei y high place amongst English poems. 
During this century its reputation has dwindled. The 
poem is written in blank verse, in imitation of Milton, 
and is said to have been inspired by the melancholy 
caused by the deaths of Young's wife and two children 
following each other within a very short period. It 
consists of reflections on the serious subjects named in 
the title, interspersed with short tales by way of episodes. 
A reader feels that throughout the poem there is a con- 
stant straining after effect. Antithesis is too frequently 
employed. Now and then the poem seems to creep 
along the ground of prose. But noble thoughts and 
beautiful passages occur, and some lines have become 
the constant quotation of common speech : 

Procrastination is the thief of time. 

All men think all men mortal but themselves. 

The greatest poet living at the middle of the century 
was Thomas Gray. The only reason why the epithet 
' great ' seems incongruous as applied to Gray, 
is the very small bulk which his poems 
occupy. Less than forty-five small pages contain the 
whole of them. He was a most fastidious writer. It 
was said of Virgil that he wrote many verses in the 
morning, but reduced them to a few before night. Most 
assuredly quality is of the first importance in poetry, and 
Gray's few pages bear marks of polish in every line. 
Perhaps it is true that Gray thought too much of the 
form and not enough of the matter. The ' Elegy written 
in a Country Churchyard ' is probably the best known. 
What pains the poet has manifestly taken ! It may be 
true that the thoughts are obvious ; but on account of 



English Literature. 199 

the grace of its language the poem will be read, remem- 
bered, and loved when longer poems with more original 
thoughts are forgotten. Gray's Odes, such as ' The 
Bard ' and ' The Progress of Poesy,' well deserve the 
admiration which they have received from every critic 
except Dr. Johnson. One charm of the poetry of Gray 
is that almost every line reminds us of something either 
in an ancient or in a modern poet. It is not a plagiarism, 
but a suggestion. Want of originality, however, keeps 
Gray out of the first rank of poets. 

Section II. — The Novelists. 

The middle of the eighteenth century was not a great 
time for poets, but it has hardly ever been surpassed as 
a creative period of English prose. There is TIme f 
a cluster of great novelists, followed later by prose. 
a cluster of great historians, besides the unique figure of 
Dr. Johnson and, a little later, the equally remarkable 
Edmund Burke. 

The reign of George II. is the time when the modern 
novel may be said to have been born ; and in our days 
novels are numerous enough and influential v • - 

.Beginning 

enough to make us interested in their first of novels, 
beginnings. Perhaps ' Robinson Crusoe ' and the nu- 
merous shorter tales which Defoe gave somewhat earlier 
to the world may from one side dispute the claim ; but 
these are too deficient in sentiment and in variety of 
human interests to be rightly classed as novels. 

Samuel Richardson was the first novelist. His three 
novels, ' Pamela,' ' Clarissa Harlowe,' and ' Sir Charles 
Grandison ' differ from novels of our day 
chiefly in their length and in being written in 
a series of letters. Richardson was not the man who 
would have been expected beforehand to turn novelist. 
He was a London printer's apprentice, whose diligence 



200 The Early Hanoverians. 

was rewarded by a partnership and later by a fortune. 
He was the first printer of the journals of the House of 
Commons. In character he was kind and benevolent, 
but very vain ; fonder of the society of ladies than of 
men, and especially greedy of the flattery of women. 

Accident, it is said, first made Richardson a novelist. 
He had been engaged to write a series of letters as 
His three m °dels of epistolary style and at the same 
novels. time to serve as a sort of manual of morality, 
and the thought occurred to him that more interest 
would attach to the letters if they were made continuous. 
Hence came ' Pamela ; or, Virtue Rewarded,' which at 
once acquired an extraordinary popularity. It is a story 
of a young country girl of the humbler class resisting 
manifold temptations and ultimately triumphing. The 
success of this led him to write ' Clarissa Harlowe,' the 
best of his books. There is plenty of pathos in ' Pamela,' 
but much more in ' Clarissa Harlowe,' which has been 
described as a novel ' not of action and enterprise, but of 
character and sentiment. 3 ' Sir Charles Grandison ' is 
intended to portray the perfect gentleman, but with his 
eternal bows and constant formalities he is a very weari- 
some personage. The three novels represent three 
classes of society — ' Pamela ' the lower, ' Clarissa 
Harlowe ' the middle, and ' Sir Charles Grandison ' the 
upper ranks. Now, of the third Richardson knew nothing, 
so that he had to evolve his notion of it out of his inner 
consciousness. Sir Charles is the sort of aristocrat 
that Richardson himself, the retired tradesman, would 
have been. 

A greater novelist than Richardson was created by a 

spirit of opposition to the preaching, namby-pamby tone of 

' Pamela.' Henry Fielding was as different as 

possible from Richardson both in character and 

circumstances. Fielding was of good family, educated at 



English Literature. 20 1 

Eton, and trained for the law ; but his father being of 
extravagant habits, and dying before Fielding came of 
age, the young man was forced to live by his wits. To 
make a living he wrote for the stage, but his plays did 
not live. Fielding was a thorough man of the world, 
lived a fast life, and spent money as readily as his father 
had. A not unnatural inclination to ridicule 'Pamela' 
suggested that he should write a parody. To this he 
gave the name of ' Joseph Andrews.' The . 

, , ,,.i-i-i c cT-i 11 His novels. 

book was published the year after Pamela.' 
Joseph Andrews is a young footman, Pamela's brother, to 
whom his mistress makes love, and who is turned out of 
his master's house, and then wanders about England 
together with a friend named Parson Adams, one of the 
best remembered of Fielding's characters, a strange com- 
pound of learning and simplicity. This book seemed to 
reveal to Fielding his true vocation in literature, and was 
followed by other novels, of which ' Tom Jones ' is the 
most famous. Fielding's novels maybe said to ' hold the 
mirror up to nature.' Of poor human nature, indeed, he 
does not take an exalted view, but he paints the world as 
he found it. Complaint is commonly made of Fielding's 
coarseness. The truth is, that he found coarseness in 
society around him. Of this he tones down nought, 
neither will he put a veil over it as Richardson did. In 
humour it may be questioned whether Fielding has ever 
been surpassed, but his chief merit lies in the lifelike 
fidelity with which in endless variety he photographed 
what he saw. 

Circumstances placed in Fielding's way the oppor- 
tunity to become well acquainted with a baser side of 
human nature, for he was appointed a stipen- 
diary magistrate in London. Very honourably 
and thoroughly he is said to have done this work ; 
and his position gave him an insight into the life and 



202 The Early Hanoverians. 

temptations of the poor, as well as of the criminal classes, 
of which he certainly made use in his writings. But the 
double labour of judicial and literary work proved too 
much for a constitution which his earlier fast life had 
undermined. Doctors ordered a warmer climate, and 
he went to Lisbon, where he died at the early age of 
forty-seven, about a year before the famous earthquake 
in that city. 1 

The third of the great novelists is Tobias Smollett, 

who was surgeon's mate on board a man-of-war engaged 

„ „ in the expedition to Cartagena (seep. 104). He 

Smollett. f.J %._..' . r ^\ 

had studied at Glasgow University, and was 
apprenticed to a medical man in that town, but his 
medical training must have been over at an early age, for 
before he was nineteen he travelled up to London with the 
manuscript of a tragedy in his pocket, more ambitious of 
fame in literature than anxious for work as a doctor. 
He had, however, to take the position in the navy, which 
he held for only a few years, disliking it all the while. 
No one can think such dislike unnatural who reads of 
the horrible condition of the men-of-war. On leaving 
the service Smollett settled for a short time in the West 
Indies, but the old literary ambition brought him back 
to London. All forms of literature seem to have occupied 
him, political pamphlets, in poetry a few occasional 
pieces with both pathos and power, in history a con- 
tinuation of Hume's History of England. He translated 
1 Don Quixote,' edited a magazine, wrote plays, medical 
works, and a book of travels that shows a curious want of 
appreciation. But his chief books are his novels, ' Rode- 
rick Random,' ' Peregrine Pickle,' ' Humphrey Clinker.' 
Smollett was not one of the men who take life easily. 
At the best he had a testy temper ; his circumstances 
were never good, and worry made his temper worse. 

1 November 1, 1755. 



English Literature. 20 ' 



"<b 



The violence of his attack upon the admiral who did 
not take Cartagena procured him imprison- „ 

Character. 

ment for three months. He was always at 
war with brother doctors or with other literary men. 
Nothing appeared to him good in the countries through 
which he travelled. At the same time it must be re- 
membered that Smollett was to a rare degree patriotic 
and high-minded. After Culloden, when the country 
was full of the stories of the ferocity with which the 
Rebellion was being suppressed, Smollett wrote a short 
poem called ' Scotland's Tears. 5 He was advised to sup- 
press the poem, as noxious to the Government. His 
only answer was to add another and more indignant 
verse. There is a pretty story about Smollett's return to 
his home. Having been long- absent, he introduced 
himself to his mother as a stranger. Though he tried to 
frown, his mother's steady gaze at length made him 
smile, and she put her arms round his neck, saying, ' Ah, 
my son, I have found you at last. Your old roguish smile 
has betrayed you.' There is no doubt about Smollett's 
humour, typified in this roguish smile, but he took the 
world hardly, and was generally in conflict. He suffered 
from bad health, and latterly was obliged to live in 
Italy. He died at Leghorn, when only a little over fifty. 

Smollett's novels depend for success not on skilful 
arrangement of plot, but on amusing characters. His 
books are like a picture in which there are Sea-cha- 
admirable likenesses and striking figures, but racters. 
in which the different elements are not well blended. Of 
his characters, as might be expected from his history, 
the most successful are his sailors. Smollett may be re- 
garded as the ancestor of all the sea novels in which 
English literature is rich. 

One other novel, rather than novelist, must be added 
to those already mentioned, ' Tristram Shandy,' by the 



204 The Early Hanoverians. 

Rev. Laurence Sterne, a clergyman as little fitted for 
' Tristram n ^ s profession as Dean Swift. Sterne was not 
Shandy.' a good clergyman, nor a good man. He has 
been convicted of using other people's learning and of 
making love to other people's wives. But he has written 
a book of admirable humour and pathos, a strangely 
compounded romance, with characters in it worthy of 
Shakspeare. 

Sterne is also the author of the ' Sentimental Journey,' 
a book which presents a remarkable contrast to Smollett' 
book of travels, for the author betrays no feeling of hatred 
to all that is not English, but is generous towards 
foreigners and appreciative of all the good that he sees. 

It may be added that poor Sterne died friendless and 
alone in London lodgings. 

Section III. — Dr. Johnson and his Circle. 

In 1760 when George III. succeeded his grandfather 
the leading figure amongst the literary men was Dr. John- 
son. That date may be taken for a break in Dr. 
Johnson's life, the early part of which was one 
long struggle against want. During the latter part Dr. 
Johnson reigned acknowledged king in the English world 
of letters. It has been remarked that Johnson's age lay 
intermediate between the days of patronage by the great 
and the days of appreciation by the public, Like all 
intermediate things, it had not the full advantages of 
either extreme ; yet Dr. Johnson's comfort in the later 
portion of his life was partly due to a pension given to 
him early in the reign of George III. ; and though the 
purchasers of his books were not in number like the 
clients of a modern popular author, yet Dr. Johnson had 
an outside public for audience as well as an inner circle 
of admirers. 

Samuel Johnson was the son of a poor bookseller at 



English Literature. 205 

Lichfield. His personal appearance was most ungainly. 
He was of great size, and scrofulous. One of HJs ear] 
his earliest recollections was being taken to life - 
London to be touched by Queen Anne for the * king's 
evil,' as scrofula was then called. His manners were 
strange and excited amusement. But there was in 
Johnson a native worth, a noble independence of thought 
and speech, maintained often in the extremity of distress, 
which made and still make him honoured in spite of his 
peculiarities. Educated first in his native town, Johnson 
was, through the kindness of a patron, able to enter upon 
a student's career at Pembroke College, Oxford ; but his 
life at the University was a long struggle against poverty. 
He was too proud to accept the new pair of shoes which 
some one in pity had placed at his door. Unable to take 
a degree — for the title of Doctor, by which he is always 
called, was an honorary degree conferred later in life — 
Samuel Johnson became an usher at various provincial 
schools. Afterwards he tried a school of his own and 
was unsuccessful. Johnson had not the patience that is 
required for a teacher, and at length found the servitude 
of school work so intolerable to his proud spirit that he 
exchanged one set of chains for another, and, going to 
London, became a booksellers' hack. A ' hack ' earns a 
scanty living by doing various jobs for booksellers, writes 
a preface, makes an index, edits some republication 
of an old book. During this time Johnson was often 
miserably poor. In his own dignified and sonorous verse 
Johnson has told us, 

Slow rises worth by poverty depressed. 

Painful experience had taught him this truth, which indeed 
is not difficult to apprehend, but through all the pain of 
his experience no want and no distress ever 
touched the honesty of his purpose or the inhe- 
rent dignity of his mind. From adversity Johnson learned 



2o6 The Early Hanoverians. 

self-control, while it strengthened his tender feeling for 
the suffering of others. When happier days arrived and 
Johnson was in comparative prosperity, was recognised 
and honoured, he always exhibited a gentle and true 
charity to all who needed it. His dwelling was even 
described as ' a sort of asylum for helpless indigence.' 

Johnson was engaged on the early numbers of the 
' Gentleman's Magazine,' contributing to it accounts of 
Various debates in. Parliament. It was not then legal 
works. to publish reports of the proceedings of Parlia- 
ment, and Johnson used to veil the identity of the speakers 
under false names. Being a man of strong political pre- 
judices, he afterwards allowed that he always took care 
that ' the Whig dogs should always get the worst of it.' 
A still more important contribution to periodical litera- 
ture were two journals that he published, somewhat in 
the style of Addison's ' Spectator,' — the ' Idler,' and the 
' Rambler.' The great work, however, of Johnson's life 
was the ' Dictionary of the English Language,' which has 
served as the basis of all English dictionaries since pub- 
lished, until the last year or two. Its chief value consists 
not in the definitions, which are sometimes ludicrously 
prejudiced, nor in the etymology, which often reads like 
guesswork, but in its quotations from standard English 
authors. Herein Dr. Johnson's wide knowledge of our 
literature was of great service. By resolute and unflinch- 
ing industry he accomplished in seven years a work 
which in other countries has occupied learned societies a 
much longer time. ' Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia ' is a 
tale that illustrates Johnson's views of human life. It 
was written by Johnson in a very short space of time in 
order to defray the expenses of his mother's funeral. 
Though chiefly a writer of prose, Johnson is the author 
of two poems, imitations of the satires of Juvenal, 
' London ' and ' The Vanity of Human Wishes.' No one 



English Literature. 207 

can call him a poet, yet each of these satires contains 
dignified and sonorous lines of remarkable power. Dr. 
Johnson's last work was the ' Lives of the Poets,' in which 
he is often unfair, or at least unappreciative, but always 
suggestive. 

Dr. Johnson's style is one by no means to be imitated. 
There is a frequent employment of antithesis and balance. 
The sentences aje heavy and laboured, and j h nson ' s 
very full of words derived from the Latin, style. 
The style may be compared to Ulysses' bow, which none 
but he could bend. Johnson used the style with effect ; 
but his imitators are well-nigh unreadable. Nay more : 
one can almost say that the reason why the sterling 
worth of many of Johnson's writings is now so little 
appreciated is that, scorning the English elements in our 
language, he made almost exclusive use of the learned 
and really foreign vocabulary. The style has already 
done damage to his fame. Yet if Johnson's own works 
are not studied as they should be, the character and 
personality of Johnson is well known. Hardly anyone 
in our literary history is so familiar. This curious fact is 
due to the fulness and excellence of the t, 

.Boswell s 

biography by his faithful friend, James Boswell. Life. 
Boswell was what is now termed a ' hero-worshipper.' 
So profound was the reverence that he entertained for 
Dr. Johnson, that he chronicled the smallest details of 
his life and the fragments of his conversation, so that 
readers seem to know Johnson and the society in which he 
lived as well as they know the circle of their own friends. 
Round about Dr. Johnson in the later part of his life 
all the great men in literature and in art seem to cluster. 
Not on one evening only, but on many, a visitor 
might have found, grouped round Dr. Johnson e u ' 
at meetings of the Literary Club, besides other men whose 
names, though known to fame, are, perhaps, less worth 



2o8 The Early Hanoverians. 

remembering, Oliver Goldsmith, Edmund Burke, Garrick, 
Gibbon, and Sir Joshua Reynolds. All of these were 
younger than Johnson, and belong to the coming time 
rather than to the reigns of the first two Georges, with 
which this little volume is concerned. Of the five the 
oldest was David Garrick, the greatest of English actors. 
He was a fellow-townsman, and had been a pupil of 
Johnson's. The next was Sir Joshua Reynolds, greatest 
of English portrait painters, first President of the Royal 
Academy. Goldsmith and Burke were about the same 
age, a little over thirty on the accession of George III. 
At that date Goldsmith was in the middle of that period 
of his life when he was working for the booksellers, writing 
the most beautiful English about subjects as to which he 
knew either nothing or very little. The eloquent voice of 
Edmund Burke had not yet been heard in Parliament : 
his writings, too, belong to the future. 

At the accession of George III. Edward Gibbon was 
serving his country as a captain in the Hampshire militia, 
He had found Oxford barren of intellectual life 
and the future sceptic had there only been 
converted to Roman Catholicism. To be reclaimed to 
Protestantism he had been sent abroad to Lausanne, 
where he had learnt French so perfectly that his first 
essay already written, ' On the Study of Literature,' was 
written in French. At Lausanne he had fallen in love 
with the beautiful and virtuous lady, afterwards the wife 
of the French minister, Necker. ' After a painful struggle ' 
Gibbon had ' yielded to fate,' his father's opposition, had 
* sighed as a lover,' ' obeyed as a son.' Already the young 
officer had made up his mind to be a historian, but four 
years were yet to elapse before he ' sat musing amidst the 
ruins of the Capitol, while the bare-footed friars were 
singing vespers in the temple of Jupiter,' and the idea of 
writing ' The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire ' 
started to his mind. 



French Literature. 209 



CHAPTER IV. 

FRENCH LITERATURE. VOLTAIRE AND ROUSSEAU. 

The last years of the reign of Lewis XIV. were simply a 
period of repression. The glory of the reign was over ; 
a great dulness held the court, and its influence was 
widely felt. It was not unnatural, therefore, that the 
news of the old King's death should have been received 
everywhere with joy, though the exuberance and open- 
ness with which this joy was displayed are somewhat 
surprising. 

At the death of the King Voltaire was just of age,, 
and perhaps in no one was the spirit of revolt more 
strong. The real name of this remarkable Voltaire's 
man was Francois Marie Arouet. The name earl y life - 
Voltaire is now believed to be an anagram of Arouet 1. j_ 
(le jeune), j being regarded as identical with i, and u with 
v. His father was a prosperous notary in Paris, who 
had two sons. The younger Arouet, afterwards Voltaire,, 
was educated in Paris at the famous college Louis le 
Grand, then under the Jesuits. In after life he railed at 
the education that he received there. Naturally the 
notary wished his clever son to succeed him, and 
destined him for the law. But Voltaire had no taste for 
the law or advocacy, and like so many other men of 
letters, in spite of his father's strong disapproval, he 
deserted the legal profession for the freedom of a literary 
life. 

That which distinguished Voltaire was a spirit of 
lively yet bitter mockery. At a very early age it brought 
him to the Bastille. It is characteristic of the injustice 
of the day that the particular satire for which he was first 

M. H. p 



2 1 o The Early Hanoverians. 

lodged there did not proceed from his pen. Release 
came after a year's imprisonment, which Voltaire bore 
with light-hearted philosophy, composing poetry, making 
a commencement of the poem which afterwards took 
shape as the ' Henriade.' The first was not, however, 
Voltaire's only experience of the Bastille. A nobleman 
said of him insultingly, 'Who is this young man that 
talks so loud?' 'He is one,' replied Voltaire promptly, 
< who does not drag a big name about with him, but who 
secures respect for the name that he has.' For this biting 
speech a brutal revenge was prepared. A week later 
Voltaire was summoned to leave the table on the plea 
that he was wanted for an act of kindness, was seized 
and beaten by bullies. Voltaire practised sword exer- 
cise, and challenged his noble adversary to a duel. The 
latter accepted, but let the secret be known, and Voltaire 
was again imprisoned in the Bastille. 

Released after six months on condition that he would 

go into exile, he chose England, where he lived some 

, r , • • two years — the last year of George I. and first 

Voltaire in ■> J & 

England, of George II. It happened that Voltaire had 
in France made the acquaintance of Bolingbroke, and 
through him he was now introduced to the people best 
worth knowing — to Pope, for instance. Newton, whom he 
regarded as ' the greatest genius that ever existed,' he 
saw once shortly before Newton died. 

Voltaire's opinion of England and the English was 
afterwards conveyed to the world. His feeling is by no 
means one of unmixed admiration, but may perhaps be 
best described as admiration tempered with mockery. It 
would have been impossible for a Frenchman who had 
recently suffered as Voltaire had not to have admired 
the freedom that he found in England — freedom of speech 
and freedom before the law — equally impossible for him 
not to have scoffed at the many anomalies which accom- 



French Literature. Voltaire and Rousseatt. 211 

panied freedom in our country. He seems to have had 
no faith in parliamentary government. In the raillery 
about the different religious sects in England there is an 
evident mixture of admiration for the toleration that pro- 
duced the variety. 

Imprisonment in the Bastille made Voltaire very care- 
ful in his criticisms of political affairs, rendered him 
cautious in publication, and anxious to live Voltaire's 
elsewhere than in France. During his sojourn caution, 
in England Voltaire studied the great English writers, and 
their influence upon his writings and his thought is very 
marked ; this is seen even in his religious views. Vol- 
taire is often described as an atheist, but no description 
could be more false. In the days of the excesses of the 
French Revolution, when men had passed far beyond the 
teaching of Voltaire, the saying ran, ' Voltaire is a bigot ; 
he believes in a God. 5 In later days, at his Genevan re- 
treat, he built a church with the inscription, 'Deo erexit 
Voltaire.' 

It was during his sojourn in England that Voltaire 
published his great epic, the ' Henriade,' which he had 
begun during his first imprisonment in the 
Bastille. The publication was by subscrip- 
tion — Queen Caroline's name being first in the list — and 
no less than 2,000/. was collected, which is said to have 
formed the nucleus of the large fortune that he afterwards 
amassed. The ' Henriade ' became at once popular, and 
in spite of changes of taste is still regarded as a great 
French classic. The poem is written in praise of Henry 
of Navarre, of all French kings the best adapted for a 
national hero. The author thought that he would achieve 
greatness for his poem by avoiding what he thought the 
mistakes of his predecessors in epic poetry, yet he 
borrowed largely from Virgil. Voltaire certainly lacked 
the first requisite for success — viz. the poetical spirit. 



2 1 2 The Early Hanoverians. 

His poem stands as an instance of the degree of success 
that can be attained by a very acute mind exercised in 
the criticism of poetry, and possessing great powers of 
versification, but without real poetical gifts. In shorter 
poems, what are known as occasional verses, Voltaire 
is far more successful. Epigram is his forte. Many of 
these lighter poems are written with remarkable grace 
as well as epigrammatic force. 

As a dramatist, again, Voltaire is more successful 
than as a poet. It is natural that his first attempts 

Voltaire's snou ld belong to the reigning school of taste. 

plays. His first play, ' CEdipe,' is in the style of Racine, 
a good imitation. It is classical in subject, and strictly 
obeys the laws of the unities. But a change came over 
his dramas after his visit to England, where Voltaire 
read Shakspeare and became acquainted with the Eng- 
lish drama and its freedom. Though he described 
Shakspeare as an inspired barbarian, and objected to 
many things in his plays as in bad taste, yet it is very 
evident that he had learnt much from him. The very 
name of one of the best of his plays, the ' Death of Caesar,' 
and still more its plot, shows how deeply he was indebted 
to the study of Shakspeare. Another of his dramas 
has a Roman subject — the story of the consul Brutus,, 
whom a sense of duty compelled to put his traitor sons 
to death. Probably the best of all his plays is ' Zaire.' 
The scene of this tender tragedy is laid in Palestine. A 
young Christian girl loves and is loved by the sultan. 
Turning Mohammedan she is about to marry him, when 
her father, many years a captive, is suddenly revealed to 
her, implores her to be true to the Christian faith, and 
dies. The sultan, in jealousy, thinks her new hesitation 
to marry is due to her loss of love for him, and stabs her 
in a frenzy. The play has splendid stage effect, and is 



French Literature. Voltaire and Rousseau. 213 

written in dignified language ; but it is not fair to com- 
pare it with plays of the great English dramatist. 

Voltaire is also well known as an historian. His largest 
history is the ' Age of Lewis XIV.,' though probably the 
shorter histories of Charles XII. of Sweden 
and Peter the Great are more famous. Vol- 
taire cannot be described as an historian of the modern 
type, a sifter of records, a diligent seeker after fact. As an 
historian he has been compared to Livy, and the com- 
parison is just. The object of both is to give a brillian 
picture of an epoch, and to write an interesting book. 
Provided that an anecdote will be an ornament to the 
writing, it matters little whether it be true. Nor can it be 
said that we are expecting from Voltaire a treatment of 
history, the conception of which did not belong to his time. 
Gibbon was his contemporary, and for some years lived 
at Lausanne, which is not far from Ferney, on the banks 
of the Lake of Geneva. Gibbon had prejudices, and in 
some respects his mind was not unlike Voltaire's. He 
also was a ' Lord of irony, that master- spell,' but there is 
no comparison between Gibbon's industry and Voltaire's. 
Gibbon's ' Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire ' 
remains one of the great histories of the world. No one 
now studies Voltaire's books for historical knowledge, 
though the smaller histories may still be read as models 
of style. For perspicuous clearness of language and 
excellence of arrangement Voltaire cannot be surpassed. 
Amongst the best of Voltaire's writings, which are 
distinguished by their extraordinary variety, the palm 
must be given to the tales ' Zadig ' and ' Can- 
dide.' The former is an Eastern tale. Zadig, 
the hero, is a sort of eastern Voltaire, who at first suffers 
many persecutions on account of his desire to do good 
to his fellow-creatures, but lives through them, and 
having just escaped hanging is promoted to be Grand 



214 TJie Early Hanoverians. 

Vizier of Babylon. Under his wise rule the kingdom 
rapidly prospers, but the king grows jealous of the 
queen's liking for the new vizier, and his misfortunes 
recommence. Zadig has to escape as a slave, and goes 
through new adventures ; but he was born under a lucky 
star, and ultimately became himself King of Babylon. 
The story is full of satirical allusions to France, and 
Voltaire's enemies are introduced into it under disguised 
names. The book is very wittily and gracefully written. 
The tale of * Candide ' was the fruit of the earth- 
quake at Lisbon (1755) ; a frightful calamity which sud- 
Earthquake denly overwhelmed more than 50,000 people,, 
at Lisbon. and set men everywhere a-thinking. The 
popular philosophy of the day was what is known as 
optimism, shortly expressed in the phrase of Pope, 
* Whatever is, is right.' Voltaire had never accepted this 
doctrine, and when the earthquake took place he put the 
question seriously in a philosophical poem on the 'Earth- 
quake of Lisbon ' ; he put it once more with mockery and 
ridicule in his liveliest and brightest tale, ' Candide.' Is, 
then, this earthquake right ? In the poem Voltaire 
seriously discusses ' the riddle of the painful earth,' and 
a translation of two lines may be quoted as its final 
teaching : — 

One day all will be well, such is our hope. 
All is well here below : — this is illusion. 

On the principle that a jest may hit him who a sermon 
flies, ' Candide ' is intended to give a grotesque view of the 
same argument. The best of all possible worlds is held 
up to ridicule. The simple-minded Candide and his pre- 
ceptor Pangloss in their travels reach Lisbon just before 
the earthquake, from which they suffer. The latter, who 
is always asserting the excellence of the world, is shortly 
afterwards hanged by order of the Inquisition. Candide 



French Literature. Voltaire and Rousseau. 2 1 5 

also sees the execution of Admiral Byng in Portsmouth 
harbour, the account of which is famous for the phrase 
pour encourager les entires. Sneers are freely distributed 
through the pages of ' Candide' ; its moral, if it has one, 
has been well described as ' Be tolerant and cultivate 
your garden/ that is, do diligently the work that comes 
to your hand. 

No account of Voltaire would be complete without 
some reference to his intercourse with Frederick the 
Great of Prussia. That monarch had a great , 

,.. . . .. Voltaire and 

admiration for V oltaire s writings, and soon Frederick 
after his accession to the throne invited the Great - 
Voltaire to come to see him. Afterwards he wished him 
to take up his residence at the Court of Berlin. French 
was the diplomatic language of Europe, and cultivated 
people in Germany — Frederick amongst the number — 
despised their own language. The King amused himself 
by writing poems in French, and he thought Voltaire 
could assist him in his amusement. At first the two 
enjoyed each other's society, but quarrels came, and the 
first feeling was replaced by one less cordial. In the 
capacity of men of letters, Frederick always regarded 
the poet as supreme, but from other points of view he 
seemed a less desirable companion. 

The later part of his life Voltaire, who, by careful 
investments, had amassed a large fortune, spent in 
almost patriarchal splendour at Ferney. End of 
He lived till he was eighty -four, and shortly his life - 
before his death paid a visit to Paris, when going to the 
theatre to hear his last tragedy he was received with 
much enthusiasm, and was attended to his hotel by a 
great crowd. His last words in public were from the 
doorstep of the hotel, • You wish to stifle me with roses.' 
A few days later he died. 

The influence of Voltaire on his own and succeeding; 



2 1 6 The Early Hanoverians. 

times was so various that it is a little difficult to estimate. 
influence of Carlyle says that there is not one great 
Voltaire. thought in all his writings. There are cer- 
tainly many thoughts on the right side — for beneficence 
against cruelty, for freedom against tyranny, for common 
sense against superstition, a passionate love of justice. 
The strongest element in the composition of Voltaire is wit. 
Wit may be harmless and may do good, but it may also 
be a deadly solvent. From its very nature it cannot be 
constructive, but it may be, and in Voltaire's case it was, 
destructive. He is not discriminating in his irony and 
sarcasms. In the France in which Voltaire found himself 
there was much that required reform or removal : a pro- 
fligate court, a superstitious, careless, or even immoral 
priesthood ; the people had no liberty, the administration 
of justice was partial and often cruel. Many of these 
evils were attacked by Voltaire, and many were after- 
wards swept away by the French Revolution. We may 
sum up his influence thus. The French Revolution did 
evil as well as good. One would have been glad if the 
changes which it brought could have come more smoothly ; 
but on the whole the world is the better for it, and Voltaire's 
attacks upon the old order helped to train men's minds 
for the revolution. We might prefer that Voltaire had 
been other than what he was, but the good in him counter- 
balances the evil. There are still, however, many who 
look upon him as a sort of incarnation of evil. An epi- 
gram by Dr. Young, who wrote the ' Night Thoughts,' 
gives the orthodox view of his contemporaries about 
Voltaire. The latter was complaining of the bad taste of 
Milton's description of Sin in the ' Paradise Lost,' and 
Dr. Young wrote : — 

You are so witty, profligate, and thin, 

At once we think thee Milton, Death, and Sin. 



French Literature. Voltaire and Rousseau. 217 

Victor Hugo, who has the same sympathy for freedom 
that Voltaire had, yet speaks of him as a missionary of 
the devil, and Dr. Johnson's view is still the current view 
in England. This was Dr. Johnson's opinion of his two 
eminent contemporaries. 

Speaking of Rousseau he said : ' I think him one of the 
worst of men, a rascal who ought to be hunted out of 
society as he has been. Three or four nations r 

, nil- i • i 11 Johnson on 

have expelled him, and it is a shame that he Voltaire and 
is protected in this country. . . . Rousseau, Rou£seau - 
sir, is a very bad man. I would sooner sign a sentence 
for his transportation than that of any felon who has gone 
from the Old Bailey these many years. Yes, I should 
like to have him work in the plantations.' Hereupon 
Boswell asked, 'Sir, do you think him as bad a man as 
Voltaire ?' and Dr. Johnson replied, 'Why, sir, it is diffi- 
cult to settle the proportion of iniquity between them.' 

Jean Jacques Rousseau, whose name is thus coupled 
with that of Voltaire, died within five weeks Of Voltaire's 
death. But he was a much younger man. Early life of 
Voltaire was eighty-four, Rousseau only sixty- Rousseau, 
six when he died. In 17 12 Rousseau was born at Geneva, 
where his father was a watchmaker, and for a while a 
dancing-master. His mother died shortly after his birth, 
and the boy had a very strange bringing up. When he 
was only ten his father ran away from Geneva to escape 
the consequences of an assault upon an officer. An 
uncle took the neglected boy, and after a couple of years' 
education, which Rousseau never valued, apprenticed him 
first to a notary, who regarded him as hopelessly stupid, 
and then to an engraver, who treated him with such 
cruelty that at length the boy ran away. From this time 
forward for many years he was a vagabond on the face of 
the earth, always movingfrom place to place, from employ- 
ment to employment. Now he pretended to be a convert 



2 1 8 The Early Hanoverians. 

to Catholicism, then he became a servant, next he gave 
lessons in music — of which he knew but little : then he 
turned tutor, but for this occupation he lacked patience : 
he acted as a secretary, as a surveyor's clerk, a copier of 
music. He gained his livelihood in various ways, but 
was constant to nothing long. His nature was undis- 
ciplined, and his own confession ran : ' When my duty 
and my heart were at variance the former seldom got 
the victory. To act from duty in opposition to inclination 
I found impossible.' 

Rousseau was nearly forty before he became an 
author. The Academy of Dijon had offered a prize for 
The prize an essa Y on the question, Has the progress of 
essay. the arts and sciences helped to corrupt or to 
purify morals ? Rousseau determined at once to com- 
pete, and to take the line that progress had corrupted 
morals. The result was that Rousseau won the prize, 
and that his essay, when published, brought him great 
fame. He had attacked literature, this attack made 
him a man of letters ; he had attacked society, and this 
attack made him the darling of society. 

Ten years of wandering, but in better circumstances, 
passed after this essay, which made Rousseau famous in 

Three oreat ^ s own ^ E ^ > then ne published the first of 
books. the three books on which his later reputation 

rests ; and within another eighteen months the last. 
They are called the ' New Heloise,' the ' Social Contract/ 
and ' Emile.' 

The ' New Heloise, or Julie ' may be described as a 
sentimental novel written in the form of letters. The 
original Heloise was a young woman of rank, 
who in the twelfth century was taught by the 
famous schoolman Abelard. Their love and their mis- 
fortunes became famous. So in this story a fierce 
passion of love arose between a tutor and his pupil, a 



French Literature. Voltaire and Rousseau. 219 

baron's daughter. Of course the father indignantly re- 
fused the tutor. This gave Rousseau an opportunity to 
express his sentiments, hostile to rank. These views had 
then the charm of novelty, but have now become almost 
commonplace. The lady afterwards marries, and after 
a while renews a pure friendship for her former tutor. 
The chief notes of the book are the description of 
passionate love on both sides, traced through many 
phases, the numerous attacks on existing customs and 
social relations, in which Rousseau speaks his own 
sentiments in the person of the tutor, and the praises of 
simple, especially of country, life. It has been observed 
that Rousseau was the first to awaken that love for the 
picturesque in nature which has distinguished so many 
writers since his time, but which is conspicuously absent 
from literature before his time. 

The second of Rousseau's triad of books was the 
' Social Contract.' The main doctrine of this political 
treatise was not new, and came from English < social Con- 
writers, especially from Locke. Inquirers tract.' 
had been asking what was the origin and what the basis 
of government. This some found in the ' divine right of 
kings ' ; that is to say, they believed that God appointed 
kings to govern. Those who did not like this doctrine 
held that government depended on the mutual agree- 
ment of the governed. This agreement was the social 
contract implied if not actually made. But it follows 
that, if one party break the contract, the other party is 
absolved from it. As the king promises good govern- 
ment, the people promise obedience : but if the govern- 
men be bad, then the people need no longer obey. 
One can easily see how this little book had a potent 
influence amidst the various forces which produced the 
French Revolution. 

The second title of ' Emile ' is ' Education.' The 



220 The Early Hanoverians. 

book is a protest against the prevailing methods of 
. t education, and in favour of greater simplicity 
and more natural treatment of children. Be- 
ginning at the very beginning, Rousseau protests against 
swaddling clothes, and wishes mothers to nurse their 
own children. Emile is a boy brought up on the methods 
of which Rousseau approves ; his training is to serve 
as a model. It need hardly be said that the child has 
no luxuries, goes barefoot, has to learn to bear pain, 
especially pain which is the consequence of his own 
acts. There is to be no other punishment than this 
natural consequence of acts. The child is to be en- 
couraged to ask questions of every kind, and should 
receive practical answers — not merely in words. Not 
until twelve is the boy to be taught to read, and he is to 
be taught a handicraft as soon as he is able to acquire 
it. All knowledge of religion is to be kept from him 
whilst he is young ; and Rousseau's own views on that 
subject are given in a famous episode of the book called 
the ' Confessions of a Savoyard Vicar.' His tutor follows 
Emile into society in Paris, where he remains pure 
amidst its corruptions. Afterwards a wife, Sophie, is 
found for him amid country surroundings, and of course 
the finding of Sophie involves a discourse on the educa- 
tion of girls. The manifest fault of the book is that the 
education, which at first began with such remarkable 
freedom, ends in constant leading strings. One begins 
to wonder what Emile would be like without his tutor 
constantly at his elbow. Few books, however, have ever 
had so strong an influence, and many improvements 
in education may be traced back to the publication of 
' Emile.' 

Rousseau's great work was to summon mankind back 
to greater simplicity of life, and to the study of first prin- 
ciples. The effects of his teaching were often very valu- 



French Literature. Voltaire and Rousseau. 221 

able, and it is a question how far he can be held respon- 
sible for the excesses into which men claiming < Follow 
to be his followers were led. If his doctrine be nature -' 
summarised in the two words, ' Follow nature,' it is essen- 
tial that we should understand what is meant by 'nature.' 
We have a habit of describing a man without his clothes 
as ' in a state of nature ' ; but if man has within him 
instincts and feelings that teach him it is better to clothe 
himself, a man is more truly following his nature when 
he has dressed himself. The savage life is not of neces- 
sity more natural than the civilised, because it is his 
higher, and not his lower nature that man must follow. 

In the ' Confessions of a Savoyard Vicar ' Rousseau's 
teaching may be said to have been equally removed from 
the orthodox dogmas of the Church, Catholic Religious 
or Protestant, and from the sceptical teaching views - 
of the philosophers of his day. The vicar believes 
earnestly in the existence and in the goodness of God, 
but he does not accept revealed religion, although he 
allows himself always outwardly to conform. The result 
of this teaching was that the author was persecuted, and 
was only feebly defended by the philosophers. When a 
young man, Rousseau had gone through the form of con- 
version to Catholicism. In the first blush of his literary 
fame he wished to be a citizen of Geneva, and went 
through the form of conversion to Protestantism. The 
book 'Emile' was burnt by order of the Parliament of 
Paris ; it' was burnt by order of the Council of Geneva. 

Rousseau was driven from France, he was driven 
from Switzerland, and. took refuge in Neuchatel, which 
then belonged to Prussia. King Frederick, , 

. . b ... .... _ & .... ' Later life. 

though he did not like Rousseau, was willing 
to protect him; but the inhabitants of the place where he 
was living, being stirred up by the orthodox, used violence 
against him. At length he determined to go to England. 



222 The Early Hanoverians. 

Here he was treated with the greatest kindness, espe- 
cially by David Hume, the historian and philosopher, who 
procured him a pension from the government of George 
III. ; but a suspicious spirit from which Rousseau was 
always suffering, and more and more in his later years, 
embittered his relations even with Hume. After a 
sojourn of sixteen months he fled from England. The 
later years of his life were very unhappy : he was almost 
out of his mind ; over his death there hangs a suspicion 
of suicide. It was during this sad last period that he 
wrote his autobiography under the title of ' Confessions.' 
It is tolerably certain that, so written, they contain as 
much of imagination as of truth. 

It is curious that both Voltaire and Rousseau paid a 
long visit to England, the former deriving more advan- 
■v ,. , • tage therefrom than the latter. Englishmen 

English in- & b 

fiuence on do not look upon the reign of the first two 
Georges as a glorious time ; yet at that very 
time leading thinkers of the continent were inclined to 
look upon England as a kind of promised land — a land of 
liberty and progress. This was especially the case with 
Montesquieu. 

Charles Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, was born 
near Bordeaux in 1689 — exactly a century before the 
Montes- French Revolution, and just as the English 
quieu. Revolution, the effects of which he afterwards 

admired so much, was being completed. He was a 
French country gentleman, trained to the law, who at an 
early age became President of the Parliament of Bor- 
deaux, a provincial law-court of considerable importance. 
'Persian A book which he wrote, called ' Les Lettres 
Letters.' Persanes,' a lively and very witty book, brought 
him great fame. This book was one of the first to make 
a farcical correspondence between foreigners a vehicle 
for satire on the country in which the book is published. 



French Literature. Voltaire and Rousseau. 223 

The foreigner is astonished at many things that he sees — 
customs, institutions, religion — and the explanations that 
he receives can easily be made an opportunity for biting 
satire. 

The success of this book determined Montesquieu to 
devote himself to literature, but before writing more he 
travelled through various countries — Austria, Hungary, 
Italy, Holland, England. In the last country he stayed 
two years. He was full of admiration for all that he saw. 
Probably no foreigner ever felt a heartier appreciation of 
the English constitution, and of the toleration, the civil 
and religious liberty enjoyed in England ; and perhaps 
few Englishmen. 

On returning to France, Montesquieu retired from 
society, and lived a studious life amid quiet country sur- 
roundings. Many years later, in 1748, the 'L'Esprit 
year of the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, Montes- des Lois -' 
quieu published his great work, ' L'Esprit des Lois.' The 
levity of tone which marked his earlier book is gone, and 
has been replaced by a dignity worthy of a judge. This 
book is written with calmness and moderation ; if when it 
first appeared it was unheeded, if in the revolution its 
moderate reforms were left far behind — after the oscilla- 
tions of the pendulum had ceased then men appreciated 
the balanced judgment of Montesquieu. Nowhere was 
his book more admired than by the best English thinkers. 
Edmund Burke was warm in its praise. 



INDEX. 



ACA 

ACADIE, former name of Nova 
Scotia, 178 
Addison for the Peerage Bill, 45 ; as a 
minister, 46 ; his death, 47 ; mentioned, 

.195 
Aix-la-Chapelle, Congress at and peace 

of (1748), 175 
Albany, Count of, title of Young Pre- 
tender, 168 
Alberoni, his rise, 50 ; good internal 

policy for Spain, 51 ; foreign schemes, 

52 ; dismissed, 53 
Alliance, triple and quadruple, 49 
Alsace, 3 

' Analogy,' by Bishop Butler, 187 
Anne, Queen, death of, 10 ; George I. 

once a suitor for her hand, 17 
Anson, Commodore ; voyage, 104, 106- 

110 ; made a peer, no 
Antwerp, captured by Saxe, 170 
Argyle, Duke of, commands royal troops 

at Sheriffmuir, 37 ; brave answer to 

the Queen, 83 
Assiento, 101-2 
Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester, guilty 

of treason, sent into exile, 67 ; it 
Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony 

and King of Poland, 9 ; his death, 96 ; 

Marshal Saxe, his natural son, 132 
Augustus, son of above, Elector of 

Saxonj^, also King of Poland, 97 ; his 

death, 98 
Austria, House of, 7 
Austrian Succession War, 103 
Azof, 90, 95 



BELGRADE, taken by Eugene, 91, 
92 ; lost by Imperialists, 94 ; peace 

of '.95 . ... 

Belleisle, Marshal, his plans for dividing 
Germany, 116 

M. H. 



CAR 

Bentley, controversy with Boyle, 66 

Bergen-op-Zoom, capture of, 172 

Berkeley, Bishop, 187-191 

Bermuda, Christian University in, 188 

Black Friday, 155 

Bolingbroke, Henry St. John, Lord, dis- 
missed from office, 26 ; to be impeached, 
fled, 31 : Secretary of State to Preten- 
der, 32 ; urges Lewis XIV. to help 
Pretender, 34 ; ' the Fifteen ' contrary 
to his advice, 36 ; dismissed by Pre- 
tender, 68 ; restored to England, at- 
tainder reverted, property restored, 68; 
his writings, 69 

Boswell, James, biographer of Johnson, 
207 

Bremen and Verden acquired, 28 

Brunswick, House of, origin, 14 

Brussels captured by Saxe, 170 

Burke, Edmund, 208 ; says story of Jen- 
kins' ear a fable, 100 ; remark about 
Oglethorpe, 194 ; quoted about Mon- 
tesquieu, 223 

Burns quoted, 196 

Butler, Joseph, Bishop, 184-6 ; promo- 
tion due to Queen Caroline, 81 

Byng, Admiral, his action off Messina, 

52 
Byron, Lord ; wreck taken from Anson's 
voyage, 108 



CANOVA, sculptor of Stuart monu- 
ment at Rome, 169 

Canterbury, Archbishop of; State of 
religion in England, 180 

Cape Breton, 176 

Carlisle thinks of resisting Charles 
Edward, 153 

Carlyle, ' Dapper George,' 76 ; on Vol- 
taire, 216 

Caroline of Anspach, Queen Consort 

Q 



226 



Index. 



CAR 

character, 79 ; Regent at time of Por- 
teous riots, 82 ; her opinion of her 
son, 86 ; death, 87 

Cartagena expedition, 104 

Chambord, 178 

Charles, brother of Emperor Francis, 
defeated at Roucoux, 171 

Charles Albert, Elector of Bavaria, 114; 
elected Emperor Charles VII., 120 ; a 
genuine emperor, 131 ; his death, 131 

Charles Edward, see Pretender, Young 

Charles VI., Emperor, his death, no 

Charles VII., see Charles Albert 

Charles XII. of Sweden, 9 ; in Turkey, 
returns, 29 ; intends to help Pretender, 
52 ; death before Fredericshall. 52 

Chesterfield, Lord, quoted about Hano- 
ver, 23 ; again as to state of England 
at the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 177 

Clifton, skirmish at, last battle fought in 
England, 156 

Cope, Sir John, opposed to Pretender, 
146 : at Prestonpans, 148 ; hears news 
of Falkirk, 159 

Cowper, 196 

Culloden, battle of, 160 

Cumberland, William Augustus, Duke 
of, son of George II. (born 1721, died 
1765), commands allies at Fontenoy, 
133 ; at Lichfield, 153 ; at Clifton, 156 ; 
in command against Charles Edward, 
159 ; puts down rebellion with great 
severity, called ' butcher,' 163 

DEFOE, 195 
Derby, Charles Edward at, 153 

Derwentwater, Earl of, joins in ' the 
Fifteen,' 36 ; executed, 40 

Dettingen, battle of, 126 

Don Carlos, appanage wanted for, by his 
mother, 70 ; proposal that he should 
marry Maria Theresa, 71 ; King of 
Two Sicilies, 98 

Don Philip, desire to procure him an 
appanage led Spain into Austrian Suc- 
cession War, 114 

Dresden, Peace of, 130 

Dryden, 196 

EDINBURGH Castle, nearly taken 
in ' the Fifteen,' 35 
Election, General, of 1714, large Whig 

majority, 30 
Elective monarchy, 95, 96 
Elector, title explained, 8 



FRE 

Electorate (Brunswick-Luneburg, or 
Hanover) compared with United King- 
dom, 17; map, 20; unpopularity of 
union with, 22 

Elcho, Lord, at Culloden, 162 

Elizabeth of Bohemia, 12 

Elizabeth Farnese, Princess of Parma, 
second wife of Philip of Spain, 49 

Episcopal Church of Scotland, 165 

Ernest Augustus, Elector of Brunswick- 
Luneburg, father of George I., n : 
description of, 16 

Eugene, Prince, at relief of Vienna, 88 ; 
in command against Turks in war that 
ended at Peace of Carlowitz, 89 ; also 
in war that ended at Peace of Passaro- 
witz ; battle of Peterwaradin ; siege of 
Belgrade, 90-2 ; death. 92, 93 ; his last 
campaign, 99 ; view of Pragmatic Sanc- 
tion, in ; Oglethorpe, his A.D.C., 119. 

Europe, survey of, 2 

Expansion of England, 101 

FALKIRK, battle of, 157 _ 
Fielding, Henry, novelist, 201 

Fleury, Cardinal, French minister, in 
favour of peace, 73, 116 

Fontarabia, 53 

Fontenoy, battle of, 133-138 

Forster, Mr., M.P., general in the Fif- 
teen,' 37 

France, frontiers of, 3 

Francis, Duke of Lorraine, afterwards 
Grand Duke of Tuscany, commander- 
in-chief of Imperialists, 94 ; made 
Grand Duke, 98 ; marries Maria 
Theresa, 113 ; elected Emperor, 131 

Frankfort, union of, 129 

Franklin, Benjamin, testimony to White- 
field's power, 185 

Frederick, Elector Palatine and (Winter) 
King of Bohemia, 13 

Frederick the Great, remark about 
Pragmatic Sanction, no ; seizes Silesia, 
in ; remark to French ambassador, 
116; said 'army was like a serpent,' 
124; laughs at George II. at Dettin- 
gen, 127 ; intercourse with Voltaire, 
215 ; dealings with Rousseau, 221 ; 
opinion about Eugene, 99 ; about Saxe, 
170 ; saying about Holland, 6 

Frederick, Prince of Wales, son of 
George II. (born 1707, died 1751), in 
opposition, 84 ; his mother's opinion of 
him, 86 ; gives pension to Thomson, 
197 



Index 



227 



GAR 

GARDINER, Colonel, killed at 
Prestonpans, 149 

Garibaldi, 98 

Garrick, David, 208 

Genoa, siege of, 173 

George I., accession of, 10 ; makes 
Cabinet wholly Whig, 27 ; ignorant of 
English, 27 ; constitutional king, 28 ; 
his death, 74 

George II., Electoral Prince of Hanover, 
14 ; accession to throne, 76 ; appear- 
ance and character, 76, 77 ; proposed 
duel with King of Prussia, 77 ; his 
avarice, 78 ; he spoke bad English, 
78 ; dismisses Walpole, 78 ; takes him 
back again, 79 ; remark about Irish at 
Fontenoy, 138 ; with army on Finchley 
Common ; bravery at news of Falkirk, 
159 ; remark about Bishop Berkeley, 

,191 . 

Georgia, colony founded, 192, 193 ; 
Wesley in, 182 

Germany, divided, 7 

Gibbon, Edward, 208 ; compared with 
Voltaire, 217 

Gibraltar, siege of, 72 

Glenfinnin, 145 

Glenshiel, Jacobite rising, 300 Spanish 
soldiers land, 53 

Gloucester, Duke of (son of Queen 
Anne), death (1700), 28 

Goldsmith, Oliver, 208 ; friend of Ogle- 
thorpe, 194 

Gottingen University, founded by George 
II., 81 

Grammont, Duke of, commanding a divi- 
sion at Dettingen, 125 

Grand Alliance, 3 

Grattan quoted, 138 

Gray, Thomas, 198 ; quoted to show state 
of feeling in 1745, 155 



HANDEL, Dettingen Te Deum^izZ 
Hanover, town and duchy, not 

electorate, 14 ; court described, 15 ; 

kingdom, 24 
Hawley, General, in Scotland, 157 
Henry, Cardinal York, 168, 169 
Herrnhut, 182 
Hessians in Edinburgh, 160 
Highland army, nature of, 39 ; roads, 41 ; 

feeling about, 130 ; regiments, 165 
Holland, position in Europe, 6 
Holyrood, Charles Edward at, 148 
Hosier, Admiral, before Porto Bello, 72 



MAL 

Howard, John, prison reformer, 191-4 
Hume, his history continued, 202 ; and 
Rousseau, 222 



TNVERNESS, 147, 161 
X. Irish at Fontenoy, 138 
Italy, state of, 5 



JENKINS, Captain, lost his ear, 100-2 
Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 199, 204-8 ; 
definition of excise, 85 ; friend of 
Oglethorpe, 194 ; opinion on Voltaire 
and Rousseau, 217 
Juan Fernandez, 107 



T7' ER of Kersland, quoted, 15, 19 



IAUFFELD, battle of, 172 
_-r Law, John, his financial proposals, 
54 ; dies in poverty at Venice, .55 

Leczynski, Stanislaus, King of Poland, 
9 ; his daughter marries Lewis XV., 
72 ; election to throne of Poland, 96 ; 
re-election, 97 ; made Duke of Lorraine, 
98 ; death, 99 

Leibnitz, account of, 25 ; advice to George 
I., 27 

Letters well rewarded, 195 

Lewis XIV., his long wars, 2 ; death, 
47, 209 

Lewis XV., accession, five years old, 47 : 
marriage, 70, 72 ; the ' well-beloved,' 
his illness, 130 ; at Fontenoy, 136 

Lichfield, Cumberland at, 153 ; birth- 
place of Johnson, 205 

Lisbon, earthquake at (Nov. 1, 1755), 214 

Livy, compared with Voltaire, 213 

Lochiel, interview with Charles Edward' 

145 
Locke, 219 

Lorraine, see Francis, Duke of 
— its position, coveted by France, 98 
Lyttelton, Lord, friend of Thomson, 197 



MACAO, Anson at, 109 
Macaulay quoted, 194 
Macdonald clan at Culloden, 162 ; Flora 

heroism of, 166 
Maestricht, capture of, 172 
Mallet, 197 



228 



Index. 



MAN 

Manchester, Charles Edward at, 153 

Mar, John, Earl of, ' bobbing John,' 
heads 'the Fifteen,' 34 

Maria Theresa, description and charac- 
ter, 112 ; marriage, 112, 113 ; at her 
father's death, archduchess, 113 ; 
crowned at Presburg (1741) Queen of 
Hungary, 119 ; at Prague Queen of 
Bohemia, 122; hercause prospering, 128 

Marlborough's campaigns, 6 ; compared 
with Saxe, 169 

Marseilles, plague at, heroic conduct of 
bishop, 57 

Methodists, origin of name, 182 

Moidart, 144 

Montesquieu, 222-3 

Morea, delivered from Turks, 89 ; re- 
conquered by them, 90 ; retained by 
them at peace, 92 



NAMUR, captured by Saxe, 170 
Necker, 208 \ 
Netherlands, Austrian, 7; 'cockpit of 

Europe,' 129 
Newton, Sir Isaac, 25, 74, 75 ; consulted 

as to Wood's pence, 65 
Noailles, Marshal, commanded French 

at Dettingen, 124 
Nova Scotia, formerly Acadie, large 

emigration to, 178 

OGLETHORPE, James, General, 
19 1-4 

Onslow, Speaker, story of proposed 
separation from Hanover, 24 ; quoted 
about Saturday holiday in House of 
Commons, 59 

Orleans, Duke of, Regent, 48 ; death, 70 

Ormond Duke of, under restraining 
orders, withdrew troops, 30 ; to be im- 
peached, flies, 31 ; his attempts in ' the 
Fifteen,' 36 

Ostend Company, 71 

Oxford, Jacobites in, 36 

— Robert Harley, Earl of, to be im- 
peached, imprisoned, prosecution 
dropped, 31 

PASSAROWITZ, Peace of, 92 
Peerage Bill proposed, 43 ; its 
effects, 44 ; rejected by Commons, 45 
Peter the Great, 9 

Peterborough, Lord, Berkeley his chap- 
lain, 188 



SAR 

Peterwaradin, battle of, 90 

Pitt, William, afterwards Lord Chatham, 
enters Parliament (1735), 85 ; his edu- 
cation, 85 ; appearance and eloquence, 
86 ; ' terrible cornet of horse,' 86 : 
opinion that after Dettingen war 
should have ceased, 128 ; enrols High- 
land regiments, 165 

Poland, its condition, 9, 95 

Polish Succession War, 95 

Pope, 195-6 ; quoted about Jenkins' ear, 
100 ; friend of Atterbury, 67 ; of 
Bolingbroke, 68-9 ; quoted about Mar- 
seilles' good bishop, 57 ; about Ogle- 
thorpe, 191-3 

Porteous, Capt., 82 ; riot about his 
reprieve, he is hanged, 83 

Porto Bello, capture of, 103-4 

Portugal, a blister to Spain, 5 

Pragmatic Sanction, 99, 113 ; finally ac- 
cepted, 176 

Prague, French retreat from, 121-2 ; 
Maria Theresa crowned at, 122 

Presburg, Maria Theresa crowned at, 
119 

Preston, battle of, 37 ; Charles Edward 
at, 150 

Prestonpans, battle of, 148 

Pretender, James the Old, 34, 141 : 
arrives in Scotland too late, 39 ; con- 
trast with his son, 142 

— Charles Edward, the Young, account 
of, 140 ; his education, 141 ; history of 
his attempt to gain crown of England 
for his father, 144-162 ; later history, 
166-8 

Privateering, 106 

Prussia, 8 

RASTADT, Treaty of, 4 
Regent, Philip Duke of Orleans. 
48 ; his peace policy, 49 
Religion in England, 180 
Revenge on Tory ministers, 30 
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 208 
Richardson, Samuel, novelist, 199 
Ripperda, Minister of Spain, 70 
Robinson Crusoe, 107 
Roucoux, battle of, 171 
Rousseau, Jean Jacques, 217-222 

SAND, George, granddaughter of 
Saxe, 179 
Sardinia, King of, 49 ; in Polish Succes- 
sion War, 98 



Index. 



229 



SAX 

Saxe, Marshal, 130 ; account of, 132 ; 
ready to cross to England, 143 ; cam- 
paign ending in invasion of Holland, 
169 ; later life, 178-9 

Saxony, divided, 8 ; Elector's claim in 
Austrian Succession War, 114 

Scott, 196 ; ' Heart of Midlothian,' 81 

Seckendorf, Eugene's successor, 93 

Selkirk, Alexander, 107 

Septennial Bill, 42 

Seven Weeks' War, 24 

Seville, Treaty of, 73 

Shakspeare compared with Voltaire, 212 

Sheriffmuir, battle of, 37 

Silesia, m, 113, 116, 129; ceded to 
Frederick at Peace of Dresden, 176 

Smollett, Tobias, novelist, 202 ; surgeon's 
mate in Cartagena expedition, 105 

Sobieski, John, King of Poland, 9, 88, 143 

— Mary Clementina, mother of Charles 
Edward, 141 

Sophia Dorothea, of Zell, wife of George 

1-, 73 

Sophia, Electress, 13 

South Sea Bubble, 55 

Spain, state of, 4, 51 

Spanish Infanta, sent back to Spain, 70 

Stadtholdership revived, 171 

Stair, Earl of, English commander at 

Dettingen, 123 
Steel, opposed to Peerage Bill, 45 
Sterne, Rev. Laurence, 204 
Stuarts, accounts of various attempts to 

restore, 32 
Swift, Lean, 195 ; and Vanessa, 188 ; 

writes as M. B. Drapier against 

Wood's Pence, 65 



THIRTY Years' War, 13, 2S 
Thomson, James, 195-7 
Tinian, Anson at, 109 
Toulon, sea-fight near, 130 
Tournay, siege of, leads to battle of 

Fontenoy, 133 
Turks in Europe, 10, 88 ; in Venice, 89 



T TTRECHT, Peace of, 1 



ZIN 

VAUBAN, testimony as to condition 
of France, 47 

Venice and Turks, 89 

Verden, Bremen andj 28 

Vernon, Admiral, takes Porto Bello, 
104 ; commands navy before Carta- 
gena, 105 

Victor Emmanuel, 98 

Victoria, Queen, 18 ; her accession 
separates Hanover, 24 

Vienna, siege of, b8, 143 ; Peace of 
(1735), 99 

Vigo, the Eng'ish take, 53 

Voltaire, 209-17 ; quoted 132, 135-6 



WADE, Marshal, makes roads in 
Scotland, 41 ; opposed to Charles 
Edward, 152 

Walpole, Sir Robert, opposes Peerage 
Bill, 45 ; called to office after South 
Sea Bubble, 56 ; earlier career, 58 ; 
policy, peace abroad and quiet at 
home, 59 ; character, 60 ; corruption, 
61 ; Finance Minister, 62 ; through 
love of power does not strengthen his 
ministry, 84 ; faced by Pitt, 86 ; loses 
Queen Caroline's support, 87 ; forced 
into war with Spain, 103 ; resigna- 
tion, 87 ; made Earl of Orford, 87 ; 
his prophecy that rebellion would be 
result of war, 140 ; his death, 140 ; his 
answer about Berkeley, 190 

Wesley, Charles, 183 

— John, 181-3 

Whitefield, George, 183-5 

William III., 171 

Wood's Pence, 65 

Wordsworth, quoted about Venice, 89 ; 
about Thomson, 196 

Wotton, Sir Henry, poem to Elizabeth 
of Bohemia, 12 



YOUNG, 'Night Thoughts,' 198 
quoted about Voltaire, 216-7 



7INZENDORF, Count, 182 



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